Acts 14, Part 25

Half way through the book of Acts! The pattern of a mixed response set in Pisidian Antioch again greeted the missionaries at their next place of witness, Iconium. It was no easy journey. Iconium was some ninety miles southeast of Antioch by the Sebastian way, the main route that connected Ephesus with Syria and Mesopotamia. Iconium was located on a plateau 3,370 feet in elevation. In many ways the city was strongly Hellenized because it had been under Seleucid rule during the second and third centuries before Christ. In Paul’s day the Roman influence was particularly in evidence, as is indicated by the name Claudiconium, which was granted to it in A.D. 41 by the emperor Claudius. It was considered a particular honor for a city to be given the right to bear the emperor’s name. In short, at Iconium Paul and Barnabas encountered a cultural amalgam—native Phrygians whose ancestors had occupied the area from ancient times, Greeks and Jews who dated back to the Seleucid period (312–65 B.C.), and Roman colonists whose presence dated from more recent times. Geographically it was the most ideal place for human settlement in an otherwise desolate area, and there is evidence for a town there from ancient times right down to the present.

Acts 14:1–7 ESV

1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.

14:1–3 In setting up their witness in the major city of the area, the two missionaries followed a pattern Paul would continue to follow—establishing his work in the major population centers. Paul and Barnabas began their work in the usual manner. They went first to the Jewish synagogue. Even though Paul’s words in Pisidian Antioch had a somewhat definitive ring to them about turning to the Gentiles (13:46), they evidently only applied to that city. Throughout Acts, Paul’s usual method would be to go first to the synagogues. There was wisdom to this. For one, Paul never gave up on the Jews. There would be some who would hear gladly the message of Messiah’s coming. Also there would be present in the synagogues Gentile proselytes and other Gentiles who believed in God and would be particularly open to the inclusive Christian message. Indeed, v. 1 attests to Paul and Barnabas having success among both these groups, Jews as well as Gentiles. Verse 2, however, points to a reaction from the nonbelieving Jews. Not only did they resist the missionaries’ witness themselves, but they also poisoned the minds of the Gentile populace against the Christian witnesses. Verse 3 creates something of a problem. One wonders why Luke said “so” Paul and Barnabas spent a long time in Iconium after such opposition had erupted against them. Verse 4 would seem to follow more naturally on v. 2 with its note of the city being divided against the apostles. It is not necessary to do so. Verse 3 is in deliberate tension with the preceding and emphasizes the power of the Christian witness and the divine enabling behind it. Even though there was strong resistance to the Christians (v. 2), still they were able to maintain their witness. The two apostles were not about to back down. They had the power of the Holy Spirit to speak “boldly” for the Lord (cf. 4:29–31). Far from being intimidated, they were inspired to even bolder witness.

14:4 As the apostles continued their witness, the city became more and more polarized into those who supported them and those who opposed them (v. 4). It is noteworthy that Luke used the term “apostle” here to refer to Paul and Barnabas. Here and 14:14 are the only places where he applied the term to anyone other than the Twelve disciples. The word means literally one who is sent and is used of official delegates or emissaries. Paul used the term regularly to refer to his own commission as an emissary of Christ. He applied the term to others as well: James, the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:19; 1 Cor 15:7), Andronicus and Junias (Rom 16:7), and an unnamed group whom he distinguished from the Twelve (1 Cor 15:7; cf. 15:5). In Acts, Luke used the term in a restricted sense, which denotes only the Twelve who were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ entire ministry. Acts 14:4, 14 are the exceptions to the rule.

14:5–7 The opposition to the two grew to such a point that a plot was hatched to stone them (v. 5). It does not seem to have been a question of official synagogue stoning since the Gentile populace was equally involved with the Jews. The whole picture seems to have been one of mob violence rather than expulsion by the city officials, as was the case in Pisidian Antioch (13:50). In any event, Paul and Barnabas learned of the plot and fled to the nearby towns of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia. The region of Lycaonia lay east of Iconium and was also in the Roman province of Galatia. Lystra lay some twenty miles to the south of Iconium, and Derbe was another sixty miles or so southeast of Lystra. Verses 6–7 are best seen as an introductory paragraph for the Lycaonian ministry. The ministry in Lystra will be depicted in vv. 8–20a. The work in Derbe is summarized in vv. 20b–21a. There were no other significant towns in the region, but the reference to the “surrounding country” in v. 6 might indicate that they evangelized the smaller towns and countryside of Lycaonia as well.

Acts 14:8–18 ESV

8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

The major episode of chap. 14 takes place in Lystra. It began with Paul healing a cripple there (vv. 8–10). This precipitated a remarkable reaction from the native Lystrans, who attempted to honor the apostles as gods (vv. 11–13). The attempted homage of the populace prompted a strong protest from Paul and Barnabas, which was mainly expressed in a brief sermon (vv. 14–18).

14:8–10 The site of Lystra was identified only in 1885, lying near the modern village of Khatyn Serai. Located in the hill country and surrounded by mountains, it was a small country town in Paul’s day. Its main significance was as a Roman military post, and for that reason it had been given the status of a colony in 6 B.C. A Roman military road connected it with the other colony city in the region, Pisidian Antioch, 100 miles or so to the northwest. A statue has been found at Antioch which Lystra presented to that city in the second or third century and commemorating a concordat between the two cities. Perhaps this interaction between the two towns explains why Jews would have come so far in pursuit of Paul (v. 19).

The healing of the lame man in vv. 8–10 has many features in common with Peter’s healing of Aeneas (9:32–35) and particularly with his healing the lame man at the temple gate (3:2–10). Like the latter, this man had been lame from his birth. Also like the man at the Beautiful Gate, this man leaped up and walked about when healed. There are differences in the two narratives. In this instance the lame man showed a glimmer of faith (v. 9). Perhaps it was in response to Paul’s speaking; he may well have been bearing testimony to the gospel. In any event, the healing is told with the utmost brevity. Paul directed him to stand, and the man immediately jumped to his feet and began to walk about. There is no mention of the name of Jesus or the power of God, but the reader of Acts has had sufficient examples by now to know that it is indeed through the divine power that the miracle was worked (cf. 3:16; 4:30; 9:34). The people at Lystra did not know that, and this ignorance led them to the wrong reaction.

14:11–13 There was evidently no Jewish synagogue in Lystra. There was at least one family of Jewish extraction there, since Lystra was the home of Timothy and his Jewish mother (16:1). By and large, however, Lystra seems to have consisted primarily of Gentile pagans; and their reaction to the lame man’s healing reflects that background. “The gods have come down to us in human form!” they exclaimed (v. 11). At this point Paul and Barnabas had no inkling of what was transpiring because the crowd’s exclamation was in their own native Lycaonian dialect. The people even delineated which gods had come to visit them. They probably started with Paul. Since he was doing most of the speaking, he must be Hermes, the Greek god of oratory and the inventor of speech. Barnabas was dubbed Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon. Just why Barnabas received this honor Luke did not specify. Perhaps it was because of an ancient legend found in their region that Zeus and Hermes had once descended to earth in human guise.

Paul and Barnabas did begin to sense that something was afoot when the priest of Zeus arrived on the scene with bulls for sacrifice (v. 13). The temple evidently stood just outside the city gates, and it is unclear whether the intended sacrifice was to take place at the city gates or before the gates of the temple. The latter would be the more normal procedure. The sacrifice was to be anything but perfunctory, since the victims were garlanded with festive woolen wreaths. Only the best for visiting gods!

14:14–18 By now the two apostles were fully aware of what was taking place. They rushed into the crowd, rending their garments. The tearing of one’s clothes is a gesture found elsewhere in the Bible. It could dramatize a state of mourning (cf. Gen 37:29, 34), express extreme distress (Josh 7:6), or protest a perceived blasphemy (Mark 14:63). Here the gesture expressed ardent protest and was designed to put a stop to the intended sacrifice. “We too are only men, human like you,” they shouted (v. 15). They were not about to be a party to such a blasphemous act. Herod Antipas had himself been given homage as a god, and he fared none too well for failing to deny it (12:22–23). It seems to be human nature to want gods that can be seen and touched, gods in the likeness of men. “Holy men” in every age succumb to the temptation to be venerated. Ministers should follow the example of the apostles and take warning from Herod.

Once they had gotten the crowd’s attention, they explained their protest in the form of a minisermon (vv. 15–18). It is the first sermon in Acts to a purely pagan group, which believed in many gods and had no knowledge whatever of the God of the Jews and Christians. The apostles had to start at the very beginning, not with the coming of Christ but with the basic theological assumption of monotheism—that God is one (Deut 6:4). As such the sermon has its parallel in Paul’s address to the Areopagus (17:22–31), and in many ways the address to the Athenians is the best commentary on the sermon at Lystra. The text reads almost as if the sermon was delivered by both apostles, but it is probably a fair assumption that Paul was the spokesman on this occasion as well (cf. 14:12).

Paul’s introduction had to do with the vanity of their worship. Any religion is pretty empty that would venerate men as gods. The pagan polytheism was vanity, emptiness, worthlessness, idolatrous worship of gods who were nongods (cf. Jer 2:5; Rom 1:21–23). Paul exhorted them to abandon this vain worship and turn to the one true and living God, the source of all that truly lives. This was the main theme of the sermon—the living God. Three things are said about God.

First, he is Creator of all life, all that dwells on earth and in the seas and in the skies. Paul was perhaps quoting from Ps 146:6, but it is in any event the threefold division of creation familiar from the Old Testament (cf. Exod 20:11; Acts 4:24; 17:24). Paul’s second point deals with God’s forbearance and mercy. In former generations God allowed the Gentiles to go their own way (v. 16). The implication is that then their deeds were done in ignorance and to that extent they were not held accountable for them (cf. 17:30a). But then implies now. Then they had had no revelation; now they did. Then they had not known the true God. Now Paul was revealing him to them. Then they had not been held accountable; now they were accountable (cf. 17:30b). Yet even in the past God had not left himself without a witness. He had revealed himself in his works of natural providence. This was Paul’s final point (v. 17). God had been sending rain from heaven and causing the crops to flourish. Fruitful harvests had brought plenty of food to nourish the body and cheer the soul. Such ideas of divine providence would not have been strange to the ears of the Lystrans. They were often expressed by pagan writers in speaking of the benevolence of the gods. What was new to them was Paul’s message of the one God—that all the benevolence of nature came from the one and only God who was himself the source of all creation.

It has often been argued that Paul drew opposite conclusions from the argument from natural providence in the Lystran sermon as compared to Rom 1:18–25. That is true, but it is equally true that the two are in no way contradictory. The basic premise is identical in both: God has revealed himself in his works, in creation. The contexts and hence the application of the premise are radically different in the two instances. In the speech at Lystra as well as the speech on the Areopagus (cf. 17:24–28), Paul used the argument from creation to build bridges, to establish a point of identification with his pagan hearers. While they may never have heard of his God before, they had seen him—in his providential works of nature. In Rom 1:18–25 Paul was seeking to establish humanity’s responsibility before a just God. The Gentiles could not claim that they had no responsibility before God on the grounds that they had received no revelation. They had received revelation in God’s providential works of creation and had perverted that revelation by worshiping nature itself, exchanging the Creator for the creation. The Gentiles were thus without excuse (Rom 1:20). We simply do not know how Paul would have moved to establish the Lystrans’ need to repent had he moved on to discuss repentance and judgment. His sermon was not completed at Lystra. The Areopagus speech gives an idea of how he would have proceeded. There the call to repentance is very closely linked to the Gentile idolatry (Acts 17:29f.), which is precisely the argument of Rom 1:18–25.

Evidently Paul and Barnabas were cut short in their witness. It is anything but a complete exposition of the gospel. Paul never got beyond the basic monotheistic message of one God. There is no reference to Christ at all. Luke was well aware of its incompleteness. Verse 18 indicates that the sermon was cut off. The crowd was still intent on sacrificing to the apostles, so impressed had they been by the healing of the lame man. Even with his brief sermon on God, Paul could scarcely restrain them. The time in Lystra, however, was not over. There would be occasion in the future to introduce them to Christ. Just how he would have moved on to speak of Christ to a pagan Gentile group we will see in the Areopagus sermon of chap. 17.

Polhill, John B. 1992. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.