Acts 14

Acts 14 And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. 2But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles, and made them evil affected against the brethren. 3Long time therefore they tarried there speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4But the multitude of the city was divided; and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. 5And when there was made an onset both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their rulers, to treat them shamefully and to stone them, 6they became aware of it, and fled unto the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the region round about: 7and there they preached the gospel.

Acts 14 can be divided into three sections:

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium
their preaching and healing at Lystra
and the return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch of Syria

Preaching in Iconium

Persecution at Antioch of Pisidia required Paul and Barnabas to move on to Iconium.

Located about 90 miles southeast of Antioch along the Royal Road that accommodated trade and troop movements, It was an important and wealthy commercial and trade center, known especially for its orchards and wool industry.

In Iconium, as in Antioch, many believed, and there were those who did not believe. The text says that these disobedient/unbelieving Jews “poisoned the minds” of the Gentiles “against the brothers”

Curiously, the response of Paul and Barnabas is to remain in Iconium for a long time, implying that the verbal persecution provided the reason for the two remaining in the city.

Persecution can bring resolve, a resolve manifested in bold preaching, undergirded by concrete demonstrations of God’s presence through signs and wonders. Signs and wonders, like the proclamation of the gospel itself, can bring division, not only between believing and unbelieving Jews but believing and unbelieving Gentiles.

Paul and Barnabas Move On

The division created by the preaching of the gospel deepens and the hostility increases so that now both Jews and Gentiles, along with their rulers, plan to physically accost Paul and Barnabas. Learning of the planned violence, Paul and Barnabas move on to Lystra and Derbe where they continue to preach the gospel message. Once again, opposition to the gospel does not silence it, but only spurs its advancement.

Healing and Preaching in Lystra

8And at Lystra there sat a certain man, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. 9The same heard Paul speaking, who, fastening his eyes upon him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole, 10said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped up and walked. 11And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. 12And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. 13And the priest of Jupiter whose temple was before the city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the multitudes. 14But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they rent their garments, and sprang forth among the multitude, crying out 15and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: 16who in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17And yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness. 18And with these sayings scarce restrained they the multitudes from doing sacrifice unto them. 19But there came Jews thither from Antioch and Iconium: and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20But as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and entered into the city: and on the morrow he went forth with Barnabas to Derbe.

Lystra a small town located about 20 miles southeast of Iconium. It served as a military outpost and was inhabited primarily by Greeks and Romans.

The lame man is said to have the faith necessary to be healed.

The Crowd Responds

Paul’s healing miracle attracts much attention from the crowds. They talk among themselves in their own Lycaonian language about what has happened, the crowd’s slipping into their local dialect explains why Paul and Barnabas were so slow to offer their horrified response to the crowd’s inference that these men were Greek gods: at first they did not understand what the crowd was saying.

The confusion of human beings with gods is a popular motif in ancient Greek novels.

Awareness of a local legend explains why the crowds identified Paul and Barnabas with Greek gods.

“The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

This strange and surprising response seems to have its roots in local folklore. There was a tradition in Lystra (recorded by the Roman poet Ovid, who died in A.D. 17) that the gods Zeus and Hermes once came to earth incognito. When they arrived at Lystra and asked for food and lodging, everyone refused them. Finally, an old peasant named Philemon and his wife, Baucis, took them in. Their inhospitable neighbors were drowned in a flood sent by the vengeful gods. Philemon and Baucis, however, saw their humble cottage turned into a magnificent temple, where they served as priest and priestess. After their deaths, they were turned into two stately trees.

Determined not to repeat their ancestors’ mistake, the people of Lystra began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

Not to be outdone, the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. If Zeus had indeed come down to earth in the form of this preacher, he had to lead the people in offering him worship.

The reaction of Paul and Barnabas when they finally became aware of what was happening, was as you see in the Old Testament, they tore their robes (a Jewish expression of horror and revulsion at blasphemy; Matt. 26:65)
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The legend offers a partial explanation as to why these people would jump to the seemingly illogical conclusion that these two strangers were these particular gods, a somewhat exaggerated response, even if they had witnessed a miracle.

While Paul and Barnabas cannot understand what the people are saying, they can infer from what they see that something is happening. A priest of Zeus is preparing to offer a sacrifice of oxen (v. 13)

The priest of Zeus attempted to sacrifice oxen to Paul and Barnabas, whom the people of Lystra considered to be gods.

Once Paul and Barnabas recognize what is happening, they protest with the tearing of their clothes. The tearing of one’s clothing is a stock response in the biblical and Jewish tradition to convey anguish in the face of either blasphemous words and deeds .The pagan sacrifice prompts Paul to speak to the crowds, in hopes of dissuading the people from empty and meaningless worship.

Paul Speaks to the Crowd

Paul announces that he is offering “good news” to the crowds. Such good news calls them to turn from useless worship to the living God, who is the creator.

In the past God had permitted the Gentiles to walk in their own ways. This might imply a kind of permissiveness on God’s part in the past, as though, up until now at least, God did not hold Gentiles accountable for such ways.

The providential care that God had offered the creation and its human inhabitants actually provided a witness to God. with God is what makes Paul’s speech “good news.”

Paul and Barnabas are Persecuted Again

The theme of continued Jewish opposition is quite obvious here. Antioch is some 100 miles from Lystra, indicating that Paul’s opponents are persistent. The reference to Jews from Iconium implies that the Antiochene Jews have pursued Paul to Iconium and, not finding him there, gathered some of the Jews from that city to join in pursuit.

Acts portrays these Jews as thoroughly determined to silence the proclamation of the gospel, even going so far as attempted murder. Their motive, rather, is to stop the proclamation of the good news to Gentiles, to stop Gentiles from turning to the true and living God.

The question arises as to whether Paul died from the stoning and was resurrected.

His would-be executioners, believed Paul to be dead. They hauled his body out of the city and contemptuously dumped it, not even deigning to give him a decent burial. The missionaries’ ministry at Lystra had not been without fruit, and some of the disciples they had made now stood around the battered, unconscious body of their fallen leader. They came either to take his body away for burial or to protect him from further harm. Possibly among them were Timothy, a native of Lystra (Acts 16:1), his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois (cf. 2 Tim. 1:5). To the believers’ joy and amazement, Paul regained consciousness, arose and courageously entered the city.

Most would have taken some time off to recuperate, but not Paul. The very next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe, a forty-mile walk. The trip, for one in Paul’s condition, must have been excruciatingly painful. Paul never willingly lost a day, however. Since the door for ministry was temporarily closed at Lystra, he simply moved on to minister somewhere else. Nothing daunted him, not even being stoned nearly to death ( Phil. 4:11).

When they had completed the work in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas revisited the three cities they had just come from. Such visits were filled with danger. The Jewish communities in all three cities remained implacably opposed to the gospel. Paul and Barnabas knew, however, that it was far more dangerous to the gospel cause for those new flocks not to be strengthened.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch of Syria

Paul and Barnabas backtrack, returning to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia. Paul’s return indicates that he wants not only to establish communities of faith, but to maintain them as well.

Paul offers specific encouragement, not just a general motivational speech. He exhorts the communities “to continue in the faith”. Jewish disciples must hold the conviction that, in Jesus, God fulfills the promises God made to their ancestors. Gentile disciples must continue to reject their polytheism and idolatry and remain true to the living God. Staying in the faith for both requires swimming against the streams of their respective cultures.

Paul offers these young communities of faith explanation. These disciples had witnessed, and in some instances experienced, persecution. Understanding such trials and tribulations, which were quite likely to continue if these disciples maintained their course against their cultures, is necessary if these communities are to endure.

Paul says that it is necessary that entrance into God’s reign be accompanied by persecutions. Paul seems sure that persecution is the inevitable destiny of God’s people who are about to enter into the blessings of God’s eternal reign.

On their return journey they established local leaders for the church.

Back in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas summarize the results of their journey, saying that God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

The Message for Us Today From This

There is, therefore, something non-negotiable about the good news that Paul preaches in Lystra. Those who accept and embrace his gospel ( Rom 2:16; 16:25) will have to abandon “worthless things,” which in this immediate context refers to false worship, in order to turn “to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them”.

Our liberal, democratic tradition, informed as it is by the Enlightenment, emphasizes individual choice in matters of religion, unhindered by governing and ecclesiastical authorities. This valuing of religious liberty is a very important feature of our American Christian heritage, and certainly of Baptists and other Christian traditions.

However, in the context of an increasingly secular culture, the result has been to make religion increasingly a “private matter.” The larger culture tends to view it, in the description of Stephen L. Carter as “just another hobby: something quiet, something private, something trivial—and not really a fit activity for intelligent, public-spirited adults.”

So while the vast majority believe in God, or are religious, almost half do not take their religious convictions too seriously when it comes to making decisions that affect “real life.”

Today, especially, it is not surprising that many religious people would affirm the statement, “I determine what God is.” Such an attitude can be illustrated by a young person who was interviewed about religion:

“I have pieced together my own religion … because, if you pick out a bit of truth everywhere, then you have the absolute truth, namely your own truth.”

The advent of postmodern thought they have taken it from private to: “We determine what God is!”

We would suspect that evangelical Christianity, especially in its fundamentalist form, would never fail to issue a clear call to commitment to would-be disciples.

Ironically, it is often the reverse, it is now an emphasis especially in fundamentalist churches on doing whatever is necessary to attract new worshippers, even if the message must be diluted.”

Paul’s word to the religious people in Lystra speaks clearly today as well: “turn from these worthless things to the living God.” The invitation is extended to all, yet all are invited to turn to someone real, to give up that which inhibits them from a genuine encounter with this living God.

This situation mandates us to engage in thoughtful reflection on the importance of religious experience. Even if we have a “religious experience,” an experience of something out of the mundane, we still are compelled to interpret or make sense of that experience.

When the people of Lystra saw the lame man walk, they knew they were experiencing awesome power. These people did what all people do: they proceeded to try to make sense of what they had experienced and to interpret it. Hence, they relied on the interpretive tools that they carried about inside them and concluded that Zeus and Hermes were in their midst!

Christians, too, are compelled to interpret religious, but the tendency of our age, which seems to encourage the picking and choosing of traditions off the “cafeteria religion” line, is actually an encouragement to people to construct their own bag of hermeneutical tools. The church is to offer thoughtful instruction to provide the people the concepts, traditions, and symbols to make sense of sacred experiences from within the framework of the Bible and the Christian heritage. This is imperative if we really believe that such frameworks provide the most meaningful and, true contexts in which to make sense of religious experiences.

Christians must be cautious, even as we instruct one another in “the faith.” We can run the risk of exalting our understandings of God and the particular traditions, symbols, and concepts that we employ to speak of God, to a kind of protected status that lies beyond question or critical examination. Precisely because we do believe that behind and beneath our religious experiences is the true and living God, we must always be willing to concede the contingency of our own understandings of this God.

Failure to recognize the contingencies of our own imperfect understandings risks the possibility, even probability, that we will make idols of our ideas.

Ingolf Dalferth, professor of systematic theology at the University of Zürich, offers some important guidelines that can help us evaluate our experiences.

• Preserve the distinction between your understanding of God and God.

• Deepen your understanding of God by keeping company with God.

• Understand yourself, your life, and your world entirely … in light of the effective presence of God.

• Expose your understanding of God to criticism without reservations and be prepared to justify it to others.