_PAUL AND BARNABAS ARE PERSECUTED AND DRIVEN FROM ICONIUM. AT LYSTRA PAUL HEALETH A CRIPPLE; WHEREUPON THEY ARE REPUTED AS GODS. PAUL IS STONED. THEY PASS THROUGH DIVERS CHURCHES, CONFIRMING THE DISCIPLES IN FAITH AND PATIENCE: RETURNING TO ANTIOCH, THEY REPORT WHAT GOD HAD DONE WITH THEM._ _Anno... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE GREEKS— Several writers suppose that these were _proselytes of the gate;_ but it seems more probable that they were Gentiles of the place, who, though they did not usually attend the synagogues, yet might be drawn thither by the fame of such extraordinary teachers as Paul and Barnabas.... [ Continue Reading ]
BRETHREN— That is, _the Christians;_ of whom this was one appellation before they were so called at Antioch. See on ch. Acts 11:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
LONG TIME THEREFORE— Some think the 2nd verse should be included in a parenthesis, and that the particle _therefore,_ refers to the success which Paul and Barnabas had met with at Iconium, mentioned Acts 14:1 as what induced them to continue preaching there for a long time: while others, who would m... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE WARE OF IT,— Having received intelligence _of it, they fled,_ &... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE THEY PREACHED THE GOSPEL,— Some manuscripts add, _And the whole multitude were moved at their doctrine; but Paul and Barnabas continued at Lystra._... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING A CRIPPLE FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB,— This circumstance serves greatly to illustrate the miracle; for weaknesses born with a person, and continuing inveterate to a more advanced age, hardly ever give way to art. See on ch. 3:... [ Continue Reading ]
STAND UPRIGHT ON THY FEET,— Some manuscripts here read, _I say unto thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand upright,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SPEECH OF LYCAONIA,— This, as some say, was not a dialect of the Greek, but rather approached the Syriac, as the language of Cappadocia is said to have done. It appears from numberless passages in the heathen writers, that they supposed it a very common thing for their gods to come down in th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CALLED BARNABAS, JUPITER, &C.— The heathens represented _Jupiter_ as an old but vigorous man, of a noble and majestic aspect, and large robust make, which probably might be the form of _Barnabas;_ whereas _Mercury_ appeared young, lively, and active, as Paul might probably do; for he was yet bu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE PRIEST OF JUPITER,— This might be rendered more exactly, _then the priest of Jupiter,_ that is to say, _of the image of Jupiter, before the city gate._ It was customary to build temples to their idol deities in the suburbs, and to set up their images before the city, at the gates. The heath... [ Continue Reading ]
OF LIKE PASSIONS, &C.— _Obnoxious to the same common infirmities,_ 'Ομοιοπαθεις : so it also signifies in James 5:17. "We are only frail andmortal men, likeyourselves;liabletothecommonevils,afflictions,andinfirmities of life." The word _vanities_ is, as we have observed in the Old Testament, frequen... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IN TIMES PAST SUFFERED ALL NATIONS, &C.— That is, all the Gentiles. God left all nations, except the Jews, to the light of the heathen dispensation. It does not appear that any prophet except Jonah, was sent to the Gentile world, from the days of Noah or Abraham. See 1 Peter 3:20; 1 Peter 5:2 an... [ Continue Reading ]
HE LEFT NOT HIMSELF WITHOUT WITNESS,— Though left to the heathen dispensation,theGentileswereculpablefortheir idolatry, and other abuses of the light afforded them, inasmuch as the works of creation always manifest the being of the true God; and it is a plain evidence of his goodness, power, and pro... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING STONED PAUL, DREW HIM OUT, &C.— The remarkable humility wherewith the apostles behaved, in so uncommon an instance of popular applause as that above related, plainlyshewed by what Spirit they were actuated. This, however, could not prevent them from the attacks of envy and malice. The Jews, t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ROSE UP, &C.— That, just after he had been stoned, dragged about the streets, and left for dead, he should rise, and walk back into the city, must certainly have been the effect of a miraculous cure, approaching as near as one can well conceive to a resurrection from the dead. This is the more il... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD ORDAINED THEM ELDERS— Though the word χειροτονειν, rendered _ordain,_ was originally used by the Greeks in a peculiar sense, to _stretch out,_ or _lift up the hand,_ as the people did when they gave their votes in popular elections; yet it came, in time, to be used in a laxer sense, an... [ Continue Reading ]
ATTALIA:— This was a maritime town on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. Some manuscripts and versions read here,—_and preaching the gospel there._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND—SAILED TO ANTIOCH,— Not thinking it proper at that time to travel through Cilicia, though they were then on the borders of it, and some Christian churches had already been planted there, (see ch. Acts 9:30 Acts 15:41.) they took shipping, and sailed thence to the coast of Syria, and went up the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HOW HE HAD OPENED THE DOOR OF FAITH, &C.— It is certain that the gospel was carried by the apostles, in this journey, to many celebrated countries, which it had never before reached. In the Ottoman empire at this day, when a call, or new levy of janissaries, is made, it is said to be "the _openi... [ Continue Reading ]