Bible Groups - Digests of Bible Commentaries

The Acts of the Apostles - Chapter 14

The pattern of evangelisation by Barnabas and Paul continues in Iconium, about 80 miles SE of Antioch: preaching, and signs win over large numbers of Jews and Gentiles, but the unpersuaded, zealous, Jews incite the pagans against them - Luke often shows how the Gospel divides people - either for or against. Conversion is a free response. Persecution then results in further spreading of the word, to Lystra and Derbe. Luke shows us a more decisive turn against the apostles by the Jews, moving from expulsion to extermination, and a greater receptivity to the message by the Gentiles. And lays the foundation for showing that these new Gentile churches are not momentary, but true churches, “filled with the joy and the Spirit”, with “signs and wonders” worked among them, and with true “disciples”. They have genuine “faith to be saved” so that the burden of proof will have to fall on any who would impose conditions on their acceptance into God’s people. This first missionary journey by Barnabas and Paul took about 4 years, from AD 45-49.
1 In spite of the reactions of some Jews in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas again start their mission in the synagogue.
2 The word translated as dis/unbelieving is frequently used in OT of the rebellion of the people against God. Luke is not describing all Jews in this way, but distinguishing those Jews who disbelieved and rejected the Good News. Some Gentiles, as well as some Jews, are against the apostles. No stereotypes!
3 Difficult to know how things became peaceful enough for them to stay a long time, which they did, with signs confirming God’s support. “The word of his grace” could mean “his gracious word” or “the word that was his gift/grace” or “”the word about his grace/gift”.
4 Luke unusually calls them apostles. The word of God is a direct personal call, which man cannot remain indifferent to: you have to choose - “He who is not with me is against me” (Mt 12:30). Hence the dislike of crypto-Christians in John’s Gospel.
5 Again “the Jews” refers to those Jews who did not accept their teaching about Jesus as the Messiah, and so followed their teaching that they should not share the promises God made to David with Gentiles who were not willing to accept all that the law prescribed, ie ritual and dietary as well as moral codes.
6 Aware of the danger of stoning, they move on to Lystra, about 40 miles SW, and Derbe, about 75 miles further SE, - and “to the surrounding countryside”. Timothy grew up in Lystra (16:1-2). Clearly a busy and perhaps protracted journey. The boundaries of Lycaonia are uncertain: Iconium was sometimes said to be in Phrygia, sometmes in Lycaonia, in the Roman province of Galatia.
7 Preaching in the synagogue is not mentioned in these two cities, which could suggest that this is a turning point, to preaching to Gentiles only. Otherwise the pattern is similar: acceptance of the message by Gentiles and rejection by some Jews, who may not be local. Luke repeats these stories to emphasise that the turning to the Gentiles is not because God or the apostles rejected the Jews, but because some Jews rejected the gospel.
8 At Lystra Paul repeats for Gentiles almost exactly the healing of a cripple by Jesus (Lk 5:17-26) and Peter for Jews (3:2-10). Note the many parallels: he listened to Paul; a cripple from birth; looked intently at him; saw he had faith; “Stand up”; jumped up and walked about, apparently near temple gate - here to Zeus. We are not surprised that a cripple is again the subject of a healing to convince hearers of the validity of the message. But we should look deeper: his lameness, incapacity to move, weakness and helplessness all signify mankind’s condition with respect to salvation. He is saved/healed because he “has faith”: he perceives in Paul’s word the power of God’s visitation and is open to that power. St Bede says “Just as the lame man whom Peter and John cured at the temple gate prefigured the salvation of the Jews, so too this cripple represents the Gentile peoples distanced from the religion of the law and the temple, but now brought in through the preaching of the Apostle Paul”.
9 But in extending the Church to Gentiles, the character of “God’s people” is shown to gradually change and be re-defined on the basis of “faith saves” - the theme all through Luke’s work. The visitation by Jesus is for the salvation of mankind. But this salvation can only be realised by acceptance in faith. Those who do accept become part of the authentic Israel; those who do not remain Jews, subject to the Law, but “disbelieving” by refusing the invitation to share in accepting Jesus’ visitation in faith.
11 A very different reaction in the pagan world from that in Jewish areas. A local legend has Zeus and Hermes visiting a home in “the Phrygian hills” and rewarding their hosts by making them priests. Hence locals thinking they have come again, and being unwilling to miss the chance of sinilar reward. The Greeks believed that their gods sometimes appeared on earth in human form. The use of the local dialect may explain why Paul ana Barnabas are slow to understand the crowd’s reactions.
12 They called Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker - Hermes was the messenger of he gods. This is the only - very slender and unjustified - basis for believing Paul was short.
13 Thinking Barnabas to be Zeus, the priests and people prepare to make a sacrifice to him - necessary because Zeus was often angry and destructive. Even pagan priests see and welcome the gospel more than Jewish priests!
14 Again “apostles” - the only times Luke so calls them, although Paul often refers to himself as an apostle. (And Church Fathers often refer to him as “the Apostle”). Perhaps justified by the wonders Paul causes (2 Cor 12:11-12). Barnabas appears to take the lead briefly, as a worthy partner, although Paul is now normally mentioned first, and causes a sign, and is targeted for murder..
15 As Peter had to deflect Cornelius from treating him as a god (10:26), so Barnabas and Paul strive to prevent this mistaken reaction, and only just succeed in doing so. (Remember Herod’s death “because he did not ascribe the honour to God (12:23). They then launch into a very effective homily which focusses on the existence of the one God, and is based entirely on reason and the natural world, and could have been given by any Jew, even without belief in Jesus. Shows continuity of NT with OT. Must preach the one God before talking about Christ - without belief in one true God, gospel of Jesus has no meaning. (Should evangelisation in Britain start with theology?) Only difference is Jesus as Christ and Saviour. Contrast with argument used with Jews of Christianity arising out of Judaism. First speech in Acts of Paul to Gentiles. “God, who made ...”: implies that no created thing can claim to be “ultimate” and so to be worshipped.
17 You had plenty of evidence that God was looking after you, through the natural order.
18 Although Paul is trying to correct the idolatry of the pagans, Luke is also showing that by the pagan’s reaction the pagans have the conditions for genuine faith. While misunderstanding the status of the apostles, they recognise a divine work of healing when they see it! They are open to God’s visitation. They do not reject the idea of God visiting in human form and saving humans. Such willingness and openness must appear as part of God’s “witness to himself” among these nations, showing dramatically how God is “opening a door of faith for the Gentiles” (14:27). Can we apply this to the apparent interest in things spiritual by our own society?
19 This was probably some time later, especially in view of the distance. Presumably news of the apostles’ successes in Lystra had reached Antioch, and the zealous unbelieving Jews then came to Lystra. This time they may have caught Paul by surprise, and they nearly killed him. Stoning is usually fatal. It appears that this attack is incited by a small band of fanatics, rather than locally inspired. Paul’s letters carry similar indications. The words used, persuading and stoning, appear to indicate a mob action, rather than the more organised action at Iconium. Parallel to the stoning of Stephen, who was also dragged out of the city.
20 The presence of “disciples” could refer to Paul’s travelling companions, or perhaps to converts already made locally, again suggesting a gap in time from the previous scene in v. 18. His disciples must have feared for the worst, and must have been both surprised and relieved when Paul appeared relatively unhurt. God was still protecting him! But we can probably assume that the injured Paul took some time to heal: many tribulations are necessary to enter the kingdom (v. 22). Again discretion, they moved on to Derbe. Not so much a triumphalist Paul, overcoming tribulations, but a hard-working Paul, who, despite much suffering, perseveres in the steady work he has been given. Luke draws our attention to the process by which early Christian communities were established and nurtured. Gives a sense of the fragility of the early churches, and the pastoral practices needed to stabilise them: visitation by pastors, encouragement to loyalty, and establishing local leaders.
21 After continued success in Derbe, they - courageously - returned through the cities they had earlier been driven out of.
22 Pastoral visits, to strengthen their disciples (Cf Lk 22:32). The verb used can mean “exhort”, but “encourage” seems more appropriate here. The task is to stabilise the new communities in the face of opposition, and to remain loyal to their community commitment. The new believers are also told that they will have to suffer hardships to enter the kingdom (Cf Lk 9:23-27, 24:46-47). There is no easy path.
23 And - Luke says - to appoint presbyters in each church, after fasting and prayer (Cf 13:2-3), and “entrusting” them to God, just as Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Antioch Church. Structure modelled on that of the Jerusalem community. Some doubt whether this structure existed as early as this, although clearly it did by the time Acts was written in last third of first century. The verb translated as “appointing” means “stretching out one’s hands” as in an election. It is used for appointing chief priests, and by Luke “laying on of hands”. Although “presbyteroi” is often translated as “elders”, as used both for the Jewish authorities and the Jerusalem Christian community, there seems no reason to avoid “presbyters”.
25 They preached in Perga, which they had omitted on the outward journey. Then to the nearby port of Attalia, 8 miles away.
26 And so back to their starting point, Antioch (in Syria), whence they had been entrusted to God by the whole community. “The work” completed: Cf 13:2, 13:41.
27 And so reported their results to the Church in Antioch. Shows they are accountable to the Antioch Church, and puts that major missionary community behind their actions. Note “all that - or ‘how much’ - God had done with them” - for Luke God always acts through his representatives. “The door of faith” is a typically Pauline expression, which he uses often as a door of opportunity.
28 And spent yet more time in Antioch - a long pause before the next events. No doubt they were given a great welcome by the Antioch communities. How well do we welcome back missionaries?