Acts 14
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1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. 3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. 5 And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, 6 They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: 7 And there they preached the gospel.
On April 14, 1912 at 11:40pm the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. One of the great myths is that the Titanic struck the iceberg in the vast open ocean on a clear night. The truth is that she was completely surrounded by icebergs and there was an impassible wall of ice that lied ahead. The reality is that the Titanic would have either struck that wall or would have been forced to stop completely, and that time would have only been minutes had she have missed the berg. In fact, the Carpathia, the ship who rescued the survivors counted 25 icebergs that were 200ft or greater on their way to rescue the survivors on the morning of April 15, 1912. What does that have to do with Paul and Barnabas? It stands as a reminder that preaching the gospel, living the Christian life, and standing for God’s word, will inevitably lead to persecution. Just as it was inevitable that the Titanic would have met the opposition of ice, whether deadly or not.
Iconium, located in the central region of modern Turkey, about 90 miles southeast of Pisidian Antioch.
After being driven out of Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas traveled southeast to Iconium[1], and the transition between these chapters reflects their movement from one city to the next. The text provides no indication of a delay or extended period between their departure from Antioch and their arrival in Iconium. Iconium was located about sixty miles east and slightly south of Antioch of Pisidia[1], so the journey itself would have taken several days of travel.
Luke’s narrative style in Acts typically compresses travel time, focusing on the missionary activity rather than the duration of journeys. The shift from Acts 13:52 to Acts 14:1 represents the completion of their travel and their immediate resumption of ministry upon arrival—likely a matter of days rather than weeks. Once in Iconium, the missionaries went straight to the synagogues, where they preached the Good News with great power[1], suggesting they began their work promptly after arriving.
[1] Bruce Barton et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2001), 521.
This was primarily a Gentile town but did have a small Jewish community.
Were these Greeks mentioned in verse 1 Hellenistic Jews or were they Gentiles?
The Greek word here denotes Greek gentiles who were practicing Judaism. They were regularly attending synagogue and believed in the God of Israel.
The bible makes it clear here that they were genuinely seeking for the truth of God’s word. I think this is why many of them believed the gospel.
Who started to cause trouble?
The unbelieving Jews.
These were the Jews who rejected the gospel.
Were the Gentiles that they ‘stirred up’ followers of Judaism?
No. The Greek word here denotes Gentiles who were pagan.
The distinction between Ἑλλήνων and ἐθνῶν is subtle but meaningful, and neither term refers exclusively to Hellenistic Jews.
Ἑλλήνες denotes Greeks and Hellenized residents of Syria and Asia Minor, and the Hellenes in these cities are the non-Jewish inhabitants, especially those who attend the synagogues.[1] The term carries a cultural dimension—for the Jews the Greek sphere that it denoted was a religious matter, so that the term approximates to Gentile.[1] By its combination with Ἰουδαῖοι the word received a wider significance, so that it almost coincides with τὰ ἔθνη.[2]
By contrast, ἐθνῶν operates at a broader level. In most of the cases ἔθνη, like the corresponding goîm in the OT, is undoubtedly used as a technical term for the Gentiles as distinct from the Jews or Christians.[3] In the Jewish sense, tá éthnē, the nations, means the Gentile nations or the Gentiles in general as spoken of all who are not Israelites and implying idolatry and ignorance of the true God.[4]
The key difference: Ἑλλήνες emphasizes cultural identity—those participating in Greek language and customs—while ἐθνῶν emphasizes religious/covenantal status—those outside God’s covenant people. The Hellenes are mostly “God-fearers” already, so that the distinction is mainly a cultural one.[1] This means Ἑλλήνες could include sympathizers with Judaism, whereas ἐθνῶν more broadly encompasses all non-covenant peoples. Neither term is restricted to Hellenistic Jews; rather, Ἑλλήνες describes a specific cultural subset within the broader category of ἐθνῶν.
[1] Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 227–228.
[2] Adolf von Harnack, New Testament Studies: The Acts of the Apostles, trans. J. R. Wilkinson, Crown Theological Library (London; New York: Williams and Norgate; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1909), 51.
[3] Matthew Vellanickal, The Divine Sonship of Christians in the Johannine Writings, Analecta Biblica (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1977), 72:221.
[4] Spiros Zodhiates, in The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000). [See here.]
The Jews, go get the people who already hate anything to do with religion, to go start problems with the Apostles and believers.
With the oppression arising from the Jews and Gentiles, did Paul and Barnabas immediately leave?
No, they remained there for a long time.
We do not know how long they stayed in Iconium, but it is believed they stayed for several weeks to several months. This was to make sure that the church was stable. Paul and Barnabas remained more as pastoral care and founding of the church rather than leaving it quickly in a weak state.
Notice that they did not become passive or docile but rather grew more bold and continued to preach the gospel.
What action did the people want to take against Paul and Barnabas?
They wanted to stone them.
There was a movement among the people but it never came to be as they would flee after gaining knowledge of it.
This does bring us to a good question though:
Should we simply wait around to be persecuted if we know that we will be persecuted? — No. Just flee and keep doing the work of God. Unless it is God’s will for you to stay and continue.
Where did they flee?
Lystra and Derbe.
unto Lystra and Derbe—the one some twenty miles to the south, the other some sixty miles to the east of Iconium, somewhere near the bases of what are called the Black Mountains and the roots of Mount Taurus; but their exact position has not yet been discovered.
Lystra was located in the southern countryside of Asia Minor, near modern-day Klistra, Turkey.[1] More specifically, Lystra (modern Hatunsaray) is nineteen miles south of Iconium.[2] Its ruins, located at a site named Zoldera Höyük, have not been excavated.[1]
Derbe’s location is less precisely established. Derbe (modern Ekinözü) was situated in eastern Lycaonia in the shadow of Mount Boratinon (Karadaǧ).[3] It was located eighty-one miles southeast of Lystra and eighteen miles south of the main highway running from the Cilician Gates to Iconium.[3] The archaeological identification of Derbe has evolved over time: J. R. R. Sterrett and W. M. Ramsay had suggested a site near Gudelisin, northwest of Laranda (Karaman), but in 1956 Michael Ballance found an inscription dated to AD 157, now in the Konya Archaeological Museum, establishing that the site was near Ekinözü.[3]
Both cities lie in south-central Turkey, roughly 60–80 miles southeast of modern Konya (ancient Iconium). Inscriptions for each can both be viewed on display at a small museum in modern-day Konya, not far from the ancient site of Iconium in central Turkey.[4] Paul and Barnabas fled to these cities after facing opposition in Iconium, but the exact locations remained unknown to scholars until archaeological discoveries in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries confirmed their existence and positions.
[1] Judith A. Odor, “Lystra,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016). [See here, here.]
[2] Tremper Longman III, Peter Enns, and Mark Strauss, eds., in The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 133.
[3] Mark Wilson, “Galatia,” in The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts, ed. Joel B. Green and Lee Martin McDonald (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 529–530.
[4] Craig L. Blomberg and Robert B. Stewart, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament: Countering the Challenges to Evangelical Christian Beliefs (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016), 273.
Does the healing of the crippled man remind you of another event in Acts?
Remember in Acts 3 when Peter and John were going to the temple and Peter healed the crippled man.
How did the people of Lycaonia respond?
They thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods.
The reference here that they spoke in the ‘speech of Lycaonia’ is more of a reference that these would be more indigenous people. Though Koine Greek and Latin were the official languages, just as there are official languages today, there were still indigenous people who kept their language and dialect.
What names did they give to Paul and Barnabas?
Jupiter and Mercurius (Mercury).
These are obviously planets that are gods.
Jupiter and Mercury (Mercurius) were the chief gods in Roman religion, and the people of Lystra identified Paul and Barnabas with these deities based on their appearance and behavior during the miraculous healing.
It is worth noting now that Paul has become the main speaker. He is the one who is preaching more often.
I think Barnabas’ real gift was encouraging. Now that he has helped Paul grow and build boldness, he takes a step back and encourages Paul in the background. He is still an instrumental part of the missionary journey’s.
Barnabas was called Jupiter because he was older and more imposing in appearance.[1] Mercury was the messenger of the gods and spokesman of Zeus, known for beautiful appearance and eloquent speech.[1] Paul received the name Mercury because he was the chief speaker.[1]
The identification reflects both local religious tradition and a specific mythological precedent. The appearance of gods upon earth was commonly believed among ancient peoples—Jupiter and Mercury were said to have wandered in Phrygia and been entertained by Baucis and Philemon, and thus the people of Lycaonia cried out that the gods had come down to them in human form.[2] This mythological narrative made the Lycaonians’ interpretation of the healing plausible within their religious worldview.
The context matters significantly. There was no synagogue in Lystra because there were not enough Jews there, so there was no immediate opposition from synagogue leaders.[3] The city was thoroughly pagan, and when Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth, the crowd’s astonishment led them to interpret the event through their own religious framework. The priest was summoned, and oxen and garlands were brought to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.[2] The apostles’ horror at this response and their urgent correction—that they were merely human beings preaching the living God—underscores how completely the pagan population had misread the situation through their polytheistic lens.
[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933). [See here, here, here.]
[2] John M’Clintock and James Strong, “Ju′piter,” in Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1891), 4:1099.
[3] M. R. De Haan, Pentecost and after: Studies in the Book of Acts (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 120.
After they give them these names, what do the people attempt to do?
Offer an animal sacrifice to them.
I have this mental image in my head of C3PO on the planet Endor being lifted up and worshiped. I know this is not the right setting but it is stuck in my mind.
What key information about the city is given when they call for the priest of Jupiter?
The city was extremely pagan and had a temple to Jupiter where they worshipped.
This is a great indication that there were no synagogues and that the Jews had little to no presence here.
How did Paul and Barnabas respond to the people wanting to sacrifice to them?
They rent their clothes and told them they were only men.
The rending of clothes was a cultural outward demonstration of grief and mourning. It was used in moments of shock and distress.
Also it does not mean they ran around naked. The rending of clothes could simply be a small tear or a tear that would only expose part of the undergarment. It would vary widely on the circumstances.
Did they stop the people from sacrificing to them?
Yes, but barely.
19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
What happened in verse 19?
Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and stoned Paul.
Yes, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra, persuaded the people, and stoned Paul (Acts 14:19–22). This represents a deliberate pursuit across considerable distance.
Although Lystra was over one hundred miles from Antioch in Pisidia, and Iconium was nearly twenty miles away, the distance did not deter the previous opposition from pursuing Barnabas and Paul there.[1] The opposition was relentless. A report of the presence of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra came to the Jews in Antioch and Iconium. They were still jealous over the success of the gospel among the Gentiles and decided to hound the heels of the apostles in their new area of work.[2]
The mechanics of their pursuit remain somewhat unclear. 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.[3] Once they arrived in Lystra, they persuaded the people, many of whom had looked upon Paul and Barnabas as gods, to join with them in pelting the missionaries with stones.[2]
The irony was striking. Luke shows us how fickle a crowd can be. The people of Lystra called the apostles gods on one occasion, but shortly thereafter their minds could be changed to anger with such intensity that they would not stop with anything less than killing Paul.[2] As the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. (Acts 14:19–22)
[1] Danny L. Dwyer, The Book of Acts, ed. Robert Picirilli, The Randall House Bible Commentary Series (Randall House, 2018), 216.
[2] T. C. Smith, “Acts,” in Broadman Bible Commentary: Acts–1 Corinthians, ed. Clifton J. Allen, Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1970), 10:88.
[3] J. Bradley Chance, Acts, ed. Leslie Andres and R. Alan Culpepper, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2007), 240.
My favorite part here is that the disciples just stood around him looking at his dead body.
Like ‘whelp nothing left to see here boys’.
No, Paul’s vision in 2 Corinthians 12 did not occur during his stoning in Acts 14:19. The chronology places these events years apart.
Paul was writing around AD 56, and he describes his vision as occurring fourteen years earlier, which would put it toward the end of his work in Syria and Cilicia, perhaps sometime in AD 42–43.[1] This dating is confirmed by other scholars: if 2 Corinthians was composed around A.D. 56, this places Paul’s vision around A.D. 42, about a decade after his conversion.[2] More specifically, Paul’s third-heaven experience occurred fourteen years before he wrote 2 Corinthians, which would place it around A.D. 42—during his “silent years” in Cilicia.[3]
The stoning at Iconium occurred much later, during Paul’s first missionary journey. This timeframe predates the apostle’s first missionary journey (Acts 9:29–30).[4] Acts 14:19 describes events that took place years after the vision—likely in the late 40s AD, based on the chronology of Paul’s missionary journeys.
Additionally, the nature of these experiences differs fundamentally. Paul’s conversion was not a revelation of “inexpressible things.” It was quite the opposite—a call to preach.[3] Similarly, the third-heaven vision stands as a distinct, datable experience that Paul carefully distinguished from other spiritual encounters. The stoning, by contrast, was a traumatic physical persecution, not a mystical experience. There is no textual evidence connecting the two events.
[1] Frank Thielman, Paul: Apostle of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2025), 62.
[2] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, England: IVP Academic; Apollos, 2010), 381.
[3] John B. Polhill, Paul and His Letters (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1999), 68.
[4] Derek R. Brown, E. Tod Twist, and Wendy Widder, 2 Corinthians, ed. Douglas Mangum and John D. Barry, Logos Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2026). [See here.]
After they preached in Derbe, where did they go?
Back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
These guys went back the way they had come, but revisited the same places that had rejected them beforehand. Also they had stoned him.
What did they tell the disciples that they were encouraging would happen in verse 22?
They would have to endure ‘much tribulation’.
What important thing did they do before leaving the churches?
They ordained elders.
Now Paul and Barnabas will go back the same route hitting all the cities they did before. They would make it back to their starting point again in Antioch with the disciples and the sending church.
This first missionary journey was about 3 years.
Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch for a considerable period, with estimates ranging between one and two years.[1] This extended stay occurred after they completed their three-year missionary journey, during which they spent considerable time with the disciples in the church at Antioch.[2]
The exact duration remains uncertain because Luke employs characteristically vague temporal language. While Luke provides a relatively straightforward account of Paul’s missionary career, he is notoriously vague about chronology, favoring phrases such as “a long time,” “after some days,” and “about this time,” which offer little precision for calculating elapsed time.[3]
The missionaries had been away for approximately two years on their first journey, and upon their return to Syrian Antioch, they remained there a long time with the disciples.[4] This period of rest and ministry in their home church proved significant—it was during this interval that tensions emerged regarding whether Gentile converts needed to observe Jewish law, a controversy that eventually prompted the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15.
[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1627.
[2] Roy E. Gingrich, The Book of Acts (Memphis, TN: Riverside Printing, 2002), 47.
[3] D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 364.
[4] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 235.
