seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 14:1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the gospel.
8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders[a] for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
a. Acts 14:23 Or Barnabas ordained elders; or Barnabas had elders elected
The commentary this morning is from bible_studys.org.
These Jews were jealous, because the body of believers in Christ was growing far more rapidly than the synagogue. These Jews put a question into the minds of the Gentiles who were not familiar with the Scriptures.
Not everyone will receive the Truth of God, and Iconium is no different. Some believed, and some did not believe. It seemed that those who did not believe used every pressure available to them to try to keep the others from believing.
“Stone them”: This proves that their Jewish opponents were the instigators, since stoning was a Jewish form of execution, usually for blasphemy.
It appears here that Paul, Barnabas, and the other disciples had to run for their lives to keep from being killed. There is a time to stand as they had done (long time they abode here and preached), but there is also a time to use good judgment and leave, and they did that as well. When they realized they could do no more good at this time, they left.
Passing strangers were commonly regarded as gods among the Greeks (and later the Romans), due to the mingling of the gods with mortals in their myths. “Jupiter” and “Mercurius”, were the Roman names for Zeus and Hermes.
The Roman poet Ovid records a local myth involving the coming of these two gods disguised as mortals. They were turned away by all except an old couple. According to the myth a flood came and in judgment destroyed all but the old couple. These superstitious people seem to fear a similar fate.
The strange reaction by the people of Lystra to the healing had its roots in local folklore. According to tradition, the gods Zeus and Hermes visited Lystra incognito, asking for food and lodging. All turned them away except for a peasant named Philemon and his wife, Baucus. The gods took vengeance by drowning everyone in a fold.
These Lycaonians worshipped false gods, and they associated these miracles as being done by these false gods. They knew the miracle was real, and they knew that a miracle such as this was beyond what a natural man could do. They assumed that this miracle originated with Paul. They did not realize that he was just carrying out a miracle from God.
“Priest of Jupiter”: It was his job to lead the people in worship of the two men they believed to be gods.
This priest was bringing these sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. They believed that Paul and Barnabas were these false gods they worshipped, and they always sacrificed to these false gods, so they wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.
This frightened Paul and Barnabas, who knew the dangers of allowing anyone to deify them. God alone is to be worshipped. This is a lesson many today need to look at carefully. The men and women of God, who God uses to heal someone, are not to be thought of too highly (exalted and lifted up). The power to heal is not their own. The power is God's.
Paul and Barnabas are not like Lucifer who wanted to be God. They quickly straighten these people out and tell them they are not gods. They also add that the Creator of this whole universe is the one to worship. Until Jesus came, most everyone walked in his own ways. Jesus brought a better way.
This again, is not the same Antioch where the believers were first called Christians. This is the same group who gave Paul trouble at Iconium. It appears here that they stoned Paul so badly, that they took him for dead and drug him out of the city.
The first trip Paul had made into this area; he was like an evangelist. He preached and many were saved, but this trip he is back to establish a church for them. This body of believers would have to hang together to be able to survive.
This Pisidia was a mountainous district in Asia Minor, north of Pamphylia. It was a really rough area filled with robbers. These men were at odds with Rome. Pamphylia means of every race. This was the first country in this area for Paul to visit.
This chapter seems to be all about the mission Barnabas [the good disciple who wanted to help widows and the poor] and Paul [disciple... was Saul of Tarsus who wanted to imprison Christians]. They were both disciples now.... and they were going into areas where the population wasn't strictly Jewish. They went to the "synagogue" in each town.... the place where the people worshiped which ever god they happened to worship. There, it appears, Barnabas would care for the people while Paul did the public speaking. According to this chapter.... the split between the believers was a violent one.... those who believed wanted them to stay.... and those who didn't believe wanted to murder them. Apparently they stoned Paul so badly they drug his body outside the town and just left if for the animals to dispose of.... but Paul wasn't dead.
I wondered while I was typing that last paragraph.... did he enjoy getting stoned? When Stephen was stoned to death.... Paul [then known as Saul of Tarsus] held the coats of those who were doing the stoning. This time he was in Stephen's shoes..... I know he remembered Stephen.
The chapter says they moved on to another town and they ran into a guy who had been crippled since birth.... there seemed to be a lot of those cripples around. I recall the Persians would murder babies when they routed a town... they would take the babies and bash them against a rock until they were dead.... I wonder... these men who have been crippled from birth... were they really suffering from injuries because they too for some reason had been bashed against a rock but didn't die? [is this some kind of abortion?... oh I hope not]
Anyway... when Barnabas and Paul healed the crippled guy... the people of the town jumped to the conclusion that Barnabas and Paul were gods. They started to make sacrifices to them.... and that freaked Barnabas and Paul out.... they had to straighten them out.... they had to make them understand that they, Barnabas and Paul, were not gods.... but they would be happy to tell them about the God they serve who let them heal the cripple.
Barnabas and Paul talked to robbers... gangs.... anyone who would listen.... they set up churches.... where the people knew they could work together and keep each other safe..... I guess it does take a village.....
It says Barnabas and Paul finished their mission and reported back to the Apostles. Good job boys.... I'm sure it was a bumpy ride.
