Chapter Fourteen

The preaching of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (1–7). The healing of a lame man in Lystra and the Gentiles’ attempt to offer sacrifice to the apostles (8–18). The persecution of the apostles, the return journey through the newly founded communities, and the return to Syrian Antioch (19–28)

Acts 14:1. In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue together and spoke in such a way that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed. By the believing “Greeks” are undoubtedly meant proselytes — pagans converted to Judaism — in contrast to the “Gentiles” mentioned further on (v. 2), who joined with the unbelieving Jews against the apostles.

Acts 14:2. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered against the brothers the minds of the Gentiles. “Stirred up,” i.e., “they slandered the apostles, leveled many accusations against them, and presented these simple-hearted men as cunning...” (Chrysostom). “Against the brothers,” i.e., not only against the apostles, but also in general against the newly converted followers of Christ, the greater part of whom were natural-born Jews, and therefore brothers in the flesh — to their persecutors (Rom 9:3).

Acts 14:3. Nevertheless they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who bore witness to the word of His grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through their hands. “Speaking boldly for the Lord.” “This boldness,” says Theophylact, “came from the apostles’ dedication to the work of preaching, while the fact that those who heard them believed was the result of the miracles, yet the boldness of the apostles itself also contributed somewhat to this.”

Acts 14:4. Meanwhile the population of the city was divided: some sided with the Jews, and others with the Apostles. “The people of the city were divided.” This division seems to be the reason why the Jews’ incitement of the Gentiles remained for a time without result.

Acts 14:5. When both the Gentiles and the Jews, together with their rulers, made a move to attack them and stone them, “The Jews with their rulers” — cf. Acts 13 — probably with the archisynagogue and the elders who formed the council alongside him. In the move toward “stoning” it is revealed both that the chief instigators of the attack on the apostles were Jews, and that the offense of the apostles had been interpreted as the crime of blasphemy, for which among the Jews this form of execution was prescribed.

Acts 14:6. they, learning of this, fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding region, Acts 14:7. and there they preached the good news. “To the Lycaonian cities, Lystra and Derbe.” “Lycaonia” — constituting a distinct region of Asia Minor more ethnographically than politically, with the cities — “Lystra” — to the southeast of Iconium, and “Derbe” — to the southeast of Lystra.

Acts 14:8. In Lystra there was sitting a certain man who had no use of his feet, lame from birth — he had been crippled from his mother’s womb and had never walked. Acts 14:9. He was listening to Paul speaking, and Paul, looking at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, “Seeing that he had faith” — perceiving it with the penetrating gaze of the God-illumined apostle.

Acts 14:10. said with a loud voice: I say to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: stand upright on your feet. And he immediately sprang up and began to walk. Acts 14:11. The crowd, seeing what Paul had done, raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language: The gods have come down to us in human form. “Saying in the Lycaonian language.” What this Lycaonian dialect was is difficult to say: some regard it as a dialect related to Assyrian, others as identical to Cappadocian, others as a corrupted form of Greek.

Acts 14:12. And they called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. “Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes.” Why the people saw precisely these gods in Barnabas and Paul is explained partly by a local Phrygian legend about the appearance of precisely these gods in human form (in Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII), and partly by the fact that near the city there was a temple or idol of Zeus, while Hermes, as the eloquent interpreter of the gods, was considered obliged to accompany Zeus when he descended from Olympus to mortals. A hint at this latter circumstance is also given by the author of Acts himself, according to whom Paul was taken for Hermes “because he was the chief speaker”... It is possible that the very outward appearance of the apostles also played a part here: Paul, as a young man (Acts 7:58), distinguished by a lively character reflected in all his speeches and actions, could easily have been identified with Hermes, who was depicted as a delicate, lively, fair-featured youth, while Barnabas with his dignified bearing could well have reminded the pagans of “Zeus” (Chrysostom: “it seems to me that Barnabas also had a venerable appearance”).

Acts 14:13. The priest of the idol Zeus, whose temple was before their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and, together with the people, wanted to offer sacrifice. “Garlands” — to adorn the sacrificial oxen with them, which was customarily done to give greater pleasure to the gods.

Acts 14:14. But the Apostles Barnabas and Paul, hearing of this, tore their garments and rushed into the crowd, crying out loudly: “They tore their garments” — as a sign of deep grief and distress at such blindness on the part of the people.

Acts 14:15. Men! what are you doing? We too are human beings just like you, and we bring you good news so that you may turn from these false things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them, Acts 14:16. who in past generations permitted all the nations to walk in their own ways, Acts 14:17. though He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good by giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling our hearts with food and gladness. The apostles prove the absurdity of the Gentiles’ deifying them, affirm in general the falsity of the pagan gods, and in their place point the Gentiles to the One Living God, Creator of all, who, though he allowed all peoples to follow false paths of life, did not deprive them of the possibility of knowing the true path (cf. Rom 1:20). “Without violating free will,” says Theophylact, “the Lord allowed all people to walk according to their own judgment; but He himself continually performed such deeds from which they, as rational beings, could recognize the Creator...”

Acts 14:18. And, saying these things, they barely restrained the crowd from offering sacrifice to them and sending them each on their way home. Meanwhile, as they were remaining there and teaching, “Scarcely restrained.” So strongly was the crowd roused by what had happened and so firm was its conviction that before its eyes were gods, not men.

Acts 14:19. some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and, while the Apostles were boldly preaching, persuaded the crowd to turn against them, saying: they say nothing true but are all lying. And, having stirred up the crowd, they stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, supposing him to be dead. “Certain Jews came” — from among those unbelieving and hostile toward Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:50 and Acts 14:5). “They stoned Paul” and not Barnabas — probably because he, as the chief speaker (Acts 14:12), was the most dangerous and detested enemy of the Jews. It is of this stoning that the apostle probably speaks in 2 Cor 11:25. Such is the astonishing fickleness and susceptibility of the popular masses to the evil speech of agitators. Just a moment before they had been ready to honor the apostles as gods, and in the very next moment they are capable of dealing with them as confirmed villains. One cannot but give due credit to the astonishing ability of the agitators to bring about so abrupt a reversal of popular feelings and movements.

Acts 14:20. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. “The disciples gathered around him” — evidently with the intention of performing his burial, or simply to see what had become of him, what condition he was in. “He rose up and entered the city.” Without doubt, this restoration of Paul’s bodily strength was the result of a miracle, although the author of Acts only hints at this covertly — with a brief and powerful expression — “he rose up and entered.” Also noteworthy here is the steadfastness of spirit of the apostle, who without fear returned again to the city where he had just been exposed to mortal danger.

Acts 14:21. Having proclaimed the good news to that city and made quite a number of disciples, they returned through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, Acts 14:22. strengthening the souls of the disciples, urging them to continue in the faith, and teaching that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. From “Derbe,” after successful preaching, the apostles undertook the return journey to Syrian “Antioch,” passing through all the previously visited places (Acts 13 and following), strengthening the believers in readiness to hold to the faith of Christ, in spite of all persecutions, tribulations, and trials, which constitute for believers the most certain path to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 7:14).

Acts 14:23. Having appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. “When they had appointed elders for them...” — presiders and guides for each community, which thereby received a firm external organization. The ordination, i.e., the laying on of hands (Acts 6:2-6), indicated the importance of the presbyteral ministry and the gracious consecration for this ministry (see Acts 11:30). “With prayer and fasting,” as was done on all important occasions (Acts 13 and others). “They committed them” — i.e., the newly converted Christians, together with their newly appointed presiders — “to the Lord,” i.e., to His mercy, goodwill, and protection.

Acts 14:24. Then, passing through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia, Acts 14:25. and, having proclaimed the word of the Lord in Perga, they went down to Attalia; Acts 14:26. and from there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had now completed. Through Pisidia and Pamphylia the apostles returned to Perga — the first city they had arrived at when they landed on the coast of Asia Minor (Acts 13:13, note). “They went down to Attalia” — a coastal city in Pamphylia, to the southeast of Perga, at the mouth of the river Catarrhactes. The city was named after Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamon, by whom it was built. From there the apostles arrived through Seleucia at Syrian Antioch, whence they had set out on the first apostolic journey by the will of “the grace of God.”

Acts 14:27. Having arrived there and gathered the church together, they reported everything that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:28. And they spent no small amount of time there with the disciples. “Having gathered the church,” i.e., the Antiochian Christian community, “they declared all that God had done with them.” The apostles’ humble acknowledgment that the power of God did everything in them by itself, and not they themselves. “He had opened a door of faith” — a figurative expression for the admission of the Gentiles into the bosom of the Church of Christ (1 Cor 16:9; 2 Cor 2:12; Col 4:3). “They declared” — “By this,” says Chrysostom, “a great matter is accomplished. It was necessary at last to preach freely to the Gentiles; and so they come to announce it, so that those back home might know about this, for it happened that at the same time there came those who had forbidden speaking with the Gentiles.” With this ends the account of the first apostolic journey to the Gentiles of the great Apostle to the nations — Paul together with Barnabas. How long this 1st journey of Paul lasted, the author of Acts does not report. It can be assumed to have been about two years.