EXCURSUS A. On the Apostolic Office. Perhaps from the mysterious verse (Revelation 21:14), ‘And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,' an opinion has existed from very early times respecting the college of apostles being limited to t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Residence of the Missionary Apostles in the City of Iconium,_ 1 _-_ 6 _._ Acts 14:1. AND IT CAME TO PASS IN ICONIUM (see note on the History of the City, chap. 13 Acts 13:51). The success of Paul's preaching appears to have been unusually great in this place; and it was no doubt owing to the rapid... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:2. BUT THE UNBELIEVING JEWS. Gloag calls attention to the fact that of the numerous persecutions recorded in the ‘Acts,' there were only two which were not occasioned by the Jews. STIRRED UP THE GENTILES. That is, rendered hostile. The Jews saw that all those privileges which belonged to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:3. LONG TIME. This first mission of Paul and Barnabas is computed to have occupied between three and four years (see the note on Acts 14:27). The ‘long time' may well be supposed to have included several months. IN THE LORD. Their patient bravery found its grand support in the protection o... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:5. And when there was an assault made. The Greek word hardly signifies an ‘assault,' rather a ‘sudden movement,' a ‘ hostile movement' or ‘impulse' on the part of the Jews and Gentiles; it could not have been an open attack, as the apostles avoided violence and stoning by a timely flight. In... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:6. AND FLED UNTO LYSTRA AND DERBE, CITIES OF LYCAONIA. Lycaonia extends from the ridges of Mount Taurus and the Cilician frontiers on the south to the hills of Cappadocia on the north. Travellers speak of it as a desolate country, without streams of water. Strabo even mentions one place wher... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Citizens of Lystra and Derbe, in Lycaonia_, _mistake the Missionary Apostles for Gods_. _Paul's Lystrian Sermon_, 7 - 19. Acts 14:7. AND THERE THEY PREACHED THE GOSPEL. There appears to have been but few Jews in these parts. We hear of no synagogue at either Lystra or Derbe. The apostles would... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:8. AND THERE SAT A CERTAIN MAN AT LYSTRA, IMPOTENT IN HIS FEET. The incident here related was evidently no very unusual one in the life of these first great missionaries of the faith. But this Lystra miracle became famous in early Christian story, and was, no doubt, oftentimes related as the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:9. PERCEIVING THAT HE HAD FAITH TO BE HEALED. Something in the rapt gaze of the poor helpless cripple attracted Paul, who now looked on him earnestly, and saw something in the sufferer's face which moved him to utter the commanding words which possessed such strange awful power. The poor hel... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:10. AND HE LEAPED AND WALKED. The lame man sprang up in his glad consciousness of a new power he had never felt before. O strange miracle! Not only could he stand upright, he who ever since his child-days had sat and reclined, but he could now move and walk like other men whom he had for so... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:11. AND WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW WHAT PAUL HAD DONE, THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICES. The whole incident was of so strange a nature that it at once took by storm the hearts of these impulsive Lycaonians. A well-known helpless cripple, as he ‘at doubtless in a spot where he had often sat before in a p... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:12. AND THEY CALLED BARNABAS, JUPITER; AND PAUL, MERCURIUS. Barnabas they imagined to be Jupiter (Zeus), most likely from his older and more venerable appearance; while the less imposing figure of Paul better represented the attendant deity Mercury (Hermes), the persuasive, eloquent speaker.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:13. THEN THE PRIEST OF JUPITER, WHICH WAS BEFORE THEIR CITY. The temple of Jupiter stood at the entrance of Lystra, and the explanation of the words, ‘of Jupiter which was before their city,' may be found in the Pagan conception that the gods themselves were present in their temples. BROUG... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:14. WHICH WHEN THE APOSTLES, BARNABAS AND PAUL, HEARD OF. In this place, and also in Acts 14:4 of this chapter, Paul and Barnabas are styled apostles. These two distinguished and devoted men, after a long period of trial, were formally (Acts 13:2) set apart by the solemn act of the Church of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:15. SAYING, WHY DO YE THESE THINGS? The argument of Paul's address to the Lystrian idolaters, as far as we are able to gather it from the very brief summary preserved to us here, seems to be as follows: ‘Brothers, you must not look on us as in any way different to you: we are but men. And th... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:17. AND GAVE US RAIN FROM HEAVEN. This mention of ‘rain from heaven' was an especial instance of Divine benevolence to the people of Lystra, as in the Lycaonian country water was so extremely scarce. In many Eastern countries this ‘rain from heaven' was a most precious boon (see PSALMS 104:1... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:19. AND THERE CAME THITHER CERTAIN JEWS FROM ANTIOCH. With rare exceptions, the Jews stirred up every persecution suffered by Paul. The stubborn jealousy of the race felt that in Paul they had to fear one whose life's work was the breaking down the wall of partition which separated the Hebre... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:20. AS THE DISCIPLES STOOD ROUND ABOUT HIM. His work in Lystra had not been in vain. Different to the awful night in Gethsemane when all forsook the arrested Master and fled, the disciples of Paul, undismayed by their master's arrest and execution, gathered round the poor scarred body of him... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:21. AND WHEN THEY HAD PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO THAT CITY, AND TAUGHT MANY. The work at Derbe appears to have been very successful: the converts to the religion of Jesus were numerous, and the apostles evidently met with no opposition in any quarter here. Among their disciples at Derbe was that... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:22. EXHORTING THEM TO CONTINUE IN THE FAITH, AND THAT WE MUST THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. This seems to be the first exhortation to the then little Gentile church from the lips of inspired men. It contains a solemn truth, and is the sum of the whole teaching of Je... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:23. AND WHEN THEY HAD ORDAINED THEM ELDERS IN EVERY CHURCH. This is rendered more accurately, ‘And when they had appointed for them elders,' etc. There is some doubt here as to whether the Greek word translated ‘ordained,' or, more accurately, ‘appointed' signified that Paul and Barnabas sim... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:25. AND WHEN THEY HAD PREACHED THE WORD IN PERGA. This was the second visit of the apostles to this place. On the first occasion they merely passed through it, now they formally preach the Gospel within its walls. The history of the _‘_ Acts' says nothing of success, recounts no opposition.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:26. AND THENCE THEY SAILED TO ANTIOCH. The famous Syrian Antioch is here meant. It was from the Christian Church in Antioch that the Apostles Barnabas and Paul had received their commission to preach in the Gentile churches. They now returned to the same church to give a formal account of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:27. THEY REHEARSED ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR THEM. The exact time during which the apostles had been absent is uncertain; we have, however, two definite points of time to assist us in determining the length of time taken up in the First Missionary Journey. Paul returned from Jerusalem to An... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 14:28. AND THERE THEY ABODE LONG TIME. The exact length of time during which they remained at Antioch is uncertain certainly not less than two years were spent by Paul and Barnabas in the Syrian capital.... [ Continue Reading ]