The Word Made Fresh
1The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and testified so powerfully that many Jews and Greeks believed. 2However, those Jews who did not believe stirred up even the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the believers. 3So they stayed there for some time, speaking out bravely for the Lord, and the Lord proved his grace by giving them signs and wonders to perform. 4But the people in the city were divided. Some of them sided with the Jews and others with the apostles. 5Finally, when there was an attempt by both Gentiles and Jews to get their rulers to approve stoning Paul and Barnabas, 6they learned of the plot and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe, and 7continued to proclaim the good news in the surrounding country.
8In Lystra there was a man who couldn’t walk because his feet had been crippled from birth. 9He heard Paul speak, and Paul turned to him and looked intensely at him. When he realized the man had the faith to be healed, 10he called out loudly, “Stand up on your feet!” The man jumped up and began to walk!
11When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they began to shout in their language, “The gods have come to us in human guise!” 12They called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul was Hermes because he was the one who did most of the talking. 13The temple of Zeus was just outside the city, and the priest there brought oxen and wreaths to the gates, wanting to offer sacrifices.
14But when Barnabas and Paul realized what they were doing, they tore their clothes and ran out to the crowd and shouted, 15“Friends! Why are you doing this? We are just men like you, and we have brought you good news so that you can turn away from these worthless practices and turn to the living God who created the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything they contain. 16Until now God allowed the nations to go their own ways. 17But God is not left without a witness to his goodness, for he has given you the rains from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and has filled your stomachs with food and your hearts with joy.” 18But even when they said this, they could barely restrain the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.
19Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. 20When the disciples gathered around him, though, he got up and went back into the city, and the next day went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
21They announced the good news there and made many disciples, and then returned to Lystra. From there they went on to Iconium and Antioch, 22where they bolstered the spirits of the disciples and encouraged them to keep the faith. They said, “We have to go through much persecution before we can enter the kingdom of God.” 23Then they appointed leaders for each church, and entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe, with prayer and fasting.
24Then they went on through Pisidia to Pamphylia. 25They preached the good news in Perga, then proceeded to Attalia. 26From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been committed to God’s grace for the work they had done there. 27When they arrived, they called the church together and told then everything God had done with them, and how a door was now opened for the Gentiles. 28They stayed there with the disciples for some time.
Commentary
1-7: Iconium proved to be a similar experience. They preached with great success, but were eventually driven out of town because the leaders of the synagogue stirred up opposition against them.
8-18: In Lystra Paul heals a crippled man, resulting in the crowds proclaiming him and Barnabas to be gods — Hermes and Zeus, to be exact. The priest of the temple of Zeus wanted to organize sacrifices for them, and they had a hard time convincing the people that they were just ordinary men.
19-20: Enemies from Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium arrive in town and stir up a mob against Paul, stone him and throw his body outside the city. He revives, however, and the next day he and Barnabas move on (preachers just sort of instinctively know when it’s time to leave a congregation). They head to Derbe.
21-23: After working in Derbe for a while they retrace their journey through all the towns where they had nearly been killed — Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia – recruiting leaders for the churches they started in each place and shoring up the work. The planting of those first congregations takes extraordinary courage.
24-28: Paul and Barnabas return to their home base, passing again through Perga and Attalia, and give the leaders of the church in Antioch of Syria an account of their first missionary journey.
Takeaway
Thank God for Paul and Barnabas and others like them who cared not for their own safety but boldly proclaimed the teachings of Christ to people who had not heard. Pray for those missionaries today who dedicate themselves to spreading the gospel in places where the people have not yet heard.