Chapter 14
Verses 1-18, the ministry of the apostle Paul to south Galatia.
Verse 1 – “And it came to pass in Iconium.” This means that in Iconium there were people with positive volition at the point of God-consciousness who must be reached.
“that they [Paul and Barnabas] went both together into the synagogue of the Jews.” Every opportunity that Paul had in the major cities came through synagogues, with several exceptions where the only way that he could gather a crowd was through a miracle. But Paul did not work primarily through miracles, these were only incidental. A synagogue was a speaking situation. Paul was a Jew as well as a Roman citizen, and he could go into a synagogue where he was generally permitted to speak, and where he would have his first opportunity. Later on he would go and speak to the Gentiles in various areas. There were exceptions to that. Athens, which had a very small Jewish population, had no synagogue and Paul had to stand in the market place which was also a public speaking place. In the ancient world the areas for public speaking situations were very restricted and for this reason Paul often went to the synagogue, if there was one in the city.
“and so spake” – they presented the gospel; “that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.” In other words, they didn’t just speak once but several times, and this went around like waves. Everyone began to discuss it in the city and eventually a lot believed.
Verse 2 – opposition. “But the unbelieving Jews.” Often the objections, opposition, pressure and persecution came from Jews scattered throughout the earth at that time. They were very legalistic, adhering to the Mosaic law as their system of salvation. They were often very religious.
“stirred up the Gentiles” – the word “unbelieving is an aorist active participle to indicate at every point of time where a person believed the unbelieving Jews were standing right there and saying no. This is a case of where an aorist active participle is coterminous with the main verb. The main verb is at the end of verse 1. There were Jews and Greeks who believed. The unbelieving Jews heard the gospel at the same time, and they were saying no. This sets up a precedent that wherever the gospel was heard it was rejected by some, and specifically by those who were religious. Religion always rejects grace at any point, and any time, in any way. The Gentiles obviously ruled the city. The Jews were in minority there but had tremendous influence. The word to stir up means to arouse through mob action.
“and made their minds evil affected” – they embittered or poisoned the minds of the Gentiles. The result is opposition.
Verse 3 – “Long time.” This took a long time, so Paul stayed. The pressure was on and he stayed right where the pressure was; “therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord.” The greater the pressure the greater their confidence in the Lord. The pressure was not real to them; the promises of God were real to them. The very fact that he spoke boldly indicates that he understood and applied Bible doctrine, and through Bible doctrine he was not only occupied with the person of Christ but he was aware of the significance of life in his day, aware of the angelic conflict. He knew that every time he stepped out of the house his life was in danger, but he also knew that every time he spoke up for Christ this was one more step of triumph and advance in the angelic conflict. The word to abide here mean to go to a place and stay there where it is unpleasant—diatribw [dia = through; tribw = to rub, friction], and it means that through all of their days there they were under friction. Everyone has a place where they can’t stand it, where they are under great pressure, where life is miserable and horrible, and humanly speaking they would like to get out now. Everyone has a diatribw situation that lasts for a long time, but whether there is a deliverance from it or not God has provided for each believer personally in that situation. Dia never means out; it means you go right on through it.
“which gave testimony unto the word of his grace” – the Lord witnessed to the word of His grace. In other words, the Lord kept his word. Paul was in a furnace. In that furnace God provides in grace. Often we get into the furnace ourselves but God uses the furnace as blessing. His grace is sufficient. Under grace God is free to bless us, and He is just as free to bless us in the furnace as out of the furnace.
“and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands” – the vindication of His grace. He gave them signs and wonders, the word “miracles” is for the Jews; “wonders” is miracles for the Gentiles. The words “to be done” actually means to “come to pass,” the present active infinitive of the verb ginomai.
1. In Antioch of Pisidia there was preaching only; in Iconium there was preaching plus miracles.
2. The believer cannot base a system of procedure on one successful operation.
3. Because the Holy Spirit permitted miracles in Iconium it does not follow that there will be miracles everywhere for success.
4. The same success was achieved in Antioch of Pisidia by preaching and teaching alone, without miracles.
5. The ministry of the believer must be related to the Holy Spirit conformable to doctrine.
6. Both the distribution and the operation of spiritual gifts is in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
7. The believer cannot compel the Holy Spirit to a line of procedure, such as tongues or healing, because the Holy Spirit permitted this in the past.
8. The demand for miracles and healing and tongues is tantamount to dictating to God as to how He will proceed. We do not dictate to God; He dictates to us through His Word.
9. Furthermore, miracles only had one point in mind. They were not to alleviate suffering but to focus attention on the gospel.
10. The message of doctrine, not miracles, always will be the important factor in God’s plan.
11. By emphasising miracles we either detract from the message or we have no message at all. The Holy Spirit emphasises the message of the Word of God.
12. Any modern emphasis on miracles, tongues healing, obscures the issue of doctrine and therefore opposes the plan of God.
Verse 4 – the city became divided over this, and the principle is: The gospel is a divider of the human race. Cf. Matthew 10:34. The Word is a divider of families, Matthew 10:35, 36; John 3:36. Therefore wherever the gospel is preached it arouses the antagonism of the forces of Satan, and in addition to that Satan has systems for persecution in traditionalism, legalism, ritualism, religionism. The message of the gospel touches the deepest things of human life and therefore the deep opposition comes.
“part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles” – those who were born again, children of God, were with the apostles. This leads to persecution.
Verse 5 – they were warned at this point and they escaped. Later on Paul will be stoned to death, though he will be resuscitated.
Verse 6 – “They were ware of it, and fled.” They all knew it together, they shared the knowledge one with another. Everyone knew that Paul and Barnabas were in danger so they passed the word on to them” “and fled” indicates more than just running away, they fled according to a norm or standard. It means it was the right time to run away—katafeugw [kata = norm or standard; feugw = to flee or run away]. Sometimes it is the correct thing to do, as in this case, to run away. It isn’t God’s will for Paul and Barnabas to be killed at this time. This time he is to leave. God has a diversity of ways of leading us. At Antioch in Pisidia they were under persecution but they escaped unharmed. Next they went to Iconium and they are now running from Iconium. God overruled the danger and having been warned they escaped unharmed. The next stop is Lystra and Paul will not escape, he will be stoned to death. Cf. 2 Timothy 3:11 which indicates that God took care of Paul at Iconium, Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and all of them; but He delivers in different ways. Sometimes there is deliverance from suffering and sometimes there is deliverance in or through suffering; “unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia.”
Verse 7 – “And there they preached the gospel.” The word for preaching is a present middle participle of e)uaggellw which means to communicate good news. The present tense means they did it every opportunity.
Verse 8 – “And there sat” is imperfect middle indicative, which means that this man had been sitting there and couldn’t do anything but sit there; “a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet” – it should be emphasised that the power of the gospel is in the message, not in the miracle of healing. Healing was designed to focus attention on the message, and the communication of the message is what is important—Romans 1:16. At Antioch in Pisidia the message was given without miracles because there was a synagogue. In Iconium there was a synagogue, and the message was given without miracles. But not so at Lystra where a miracle was necessary because there must be a way of getting attention to the gospel. Since there was no synagogue the gift of healing will take up the slack. This man was a complete and total cripple. All of his life he had never walked and therefore to go from one place to another he must do so by someone else helping him. He was a well-known person in Lystra, and to the apostle Paul he was what the synagogue was at Iconium and in Antioch in Pisidia. This is how the people will come to focus their attention on the message of the apostle Paul.
Verse 9 – “The same heard Paul speak.” The word “heard” is imperfect tense, which means he kept on listening; “who [Paul] steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith.” The words “to be healed” does not occur in the original. There is a verb here, an aorist passive infinitive of the verb swzw which means “to be saved.” This does not mean to be healed. It says he had faith to be saved. Paul observed that this man had faith.
Verse 10 – “[Paul] Said with a loud voice.” Apparently this is in the market and there are many people around, and Paul was already in the process of communicating a message. He speaks with a voice that can be heard in the market place. “Stand upright” is not what he said. He did say “Stand,” which is an aorist active participle, but he said something more like “Get up,” followed by a word which means to be erect. He didn’t get up, he jumped up! – aorist active indicative; “and walked” – imperfect tense, he kept on walking.
Verse 11 – the reaction. “And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia [half Greek and half Assyrian]” – they reverted to their native language. “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men” – the reason for this is that right next door to Lycaonia is Phrygia. The Phrygians liked to tell the story that one day Zeus and Hermes, or for the Latin, Jupiter [the father of the gods] and Mercury [the god of speech] took a trip to Phrygia to take a look at the women. While they were going along they found a really nice couple called Bacchus and Philemon, and stopped at their house. This couple were really happy. Jupiter and Mercury were so impressed with these two that Jupiter revealed himself and said he would give them anything they wanted. And Bacchus and Philemon said that they were so desperately in love that they just wanted to live forever so that they could love each other forever. So Jupiter and Mercury held a little conference. They walked back in and snapped their fingers, and Bacchus and Philemon disappeared. Bacchus became a beautiful tree, and Philemon became a beautiful tree. And they were there in that day as a memorial to the four or five couples who were happily married in the world at that time. That is the story. So now the Lycaonians were saying that at last they had something which was as great as the Phrygians, i.e. we have Jupiter and Mercury with us now. And we don’t have Bacchus and Philemon, we have a man who was crippled, and Jupiter and Mercury have seen fit to heal him! So they are all excited. Now they have had a visit from the gods.
Verse 12 – “And they called Barnabas Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he [Paul] was the chief speaker.”
Verse 13 – “brought oxen and garlands unto the gates” – the highest sacrifice of the Greeks. Generally they sacrificed pigs, but on a special occasion they would sacrifice oxen. The garlands simply indicated that they were entertaining gods.
“and would have done sacrifice with the people” – they had to rotualise the occasion.
Verse 14 – “Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard.” They are in a house when they hear this and they now face a tremendous peril: the subtle temptation of approbation lust to be recognised as a god, to be entertained as a god. Because of his orientation to grace he came out of it well. At this point it didn’t bother him at all, except that he wanted the record straight. He did not want Satan converting a miracle into something that would obscure the gospel.
“they rent their clothes” – to prove that they were human and not gods, not because they were upset; “and ran in [rushed out] into the crowd, crying out.”
Verse 15 – “And saying, Sirs, why do you do these things? We are men of like passions with you.” They were afraid that all would become mixed up about this thing. The words “like passions” means “we have the same nature.”
“that you should turn from these vanities [emptinesses]” – idolatry, offering sacrifices to Zeus and Hermes; “unto the living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all the things that are therein:
Verse 16 – “Who in times past permitted all nations [Gentiles] to walk in their own ways.” It simply means that He has always recognised the free will of man. And when man rejects Christ as saviour, even before Christ came—in times past means right up to that moment—God always recognises the right of the individual to reject, He does not coerce people to accept Him. Paul is saying that they must turn from these emptinesses to the living God, Jesus Christ, who made all of these things—Colossians 1:16. To walk in their own ways means to operate on their own negative volition. This is the story of Romans 1:18-32.
Verse 17 – “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness,” aorist tense, recognising any point of time in which the gospel is presented and to which there is a response. This means that Jesus Christ Himself has been revealed since the beginning of time. The saviour was revealed long before the saviour came to the earth. Adam was saved by faith in Christ, Abraham was saved by faith in Christ; there is absolutely no other way to be saved, there is absolutely no other saviour. Always the Lord Jesus Christ has been revealed and never in the history of the human race has there been a person on positive signals at the point of God-consciousness who has no heard the gospel and had the chance to respond through faith in Christ.
“in that he did good” – this is a compound word a)gaqopoiew [poiew = to do, to work; a)gaqoj = absolute or divine good] which the performance of divine good, and this becomes the issue in salvation.
“and gave us rain from heaven” – present active participle, He keeps on giving us rain. Anything that God does in His plan (which is always going on) is absolute good, perfect good, divine good. The present active participle sets up the basis for Paul’s ministry in Lystra because rain falls on the unbeliever and the believer. Very shortly in Lystra there will be unbelievers and believers, and God provides rain, as it were, which is the gospel to the unbeliever. He gives them something to receive, something they cannot earn or deserve. There will also be believers in Lystra, and to them we have phase two information. So rain becomes an illustration of the grace of God. God provides the rain. Under an agricultural economy they understand this because it results in fruitful seasons. This is the agricultural term for prosperity.
“filling our hearts with food [nourishment] and gladness” – the heart is really the soul or some part of the essence of the soul. The real you is the soul. The word for filling is e)mpiplhmi which means to fill up inside; the word for food is used for Bible doctrine. Food is a habit for living; doctrine is necessary for spiritual activity and life, production and orientation to the plan of God. Just as eating must be a habit, Bible doctrine must be a habit, and there must be a constant inflow into the human spirit.
Verse 18 – “And with these sayings.” He said a lot more, this is merely a summary, the gist of what he said; “scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice to them.” The Greek says “from doing sacrifice to them.”
Verse 19 – the Judaisers are now catching up: unsaved Jews who have rejected Christ. These are Jews who have heard Paul along the way in the various synagogues and rejected the message.
“certain Jews from Antioch [of Pisidia] and Iconium” – these are the ones who had rejected the gospel and we know they were full of jealousy because of Acts 13:45.
“who persuaded the people” – the people had been persuaded up to this point that Paul and Barnabas were Jupiter and Mercury. Now they have a complete change of attitude. The envy and jealousy of the religious Jews motivated the whole action. Here is a mob scene. Mobs never accomplished anything, they are a lot of action and no brains.
“and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city” – the word “drew” is dragged. They stoned him to death right in the city and dragged the body outside the city.
“supposing he had been dead” – the word “supposing” is not supposing at all. The Greek word is nomizw which means to conclude. They didn’t suppose he was dead, they knew he was dead. The translation should be, “concluding him to have died.” Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4.
Verse 20 – Paul’s resuscitation. “Howbeit [But], as the disciples stood round about, he rose up.” This was a miracle performed by God. It was not resurrection, it was resuscitation because Paul eventually died again. The purpose of his resuscitation was that his work was not completed—2 Timothy 4:7-8.
Verse 21 – the return itinerary. “And when they had preached the gospel to that city [Derbe], and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch. They went back the way they had come. The word to reach here is a rather rare one, it means to train, to take someone who is totally untrained and to train them to do something well. This return was 116 miles—between Antioch and Derbe— of extreme danger which has been described in 2 Corinthians 11:24-32.
Verse 22 – “Confirming the souls of the disciples.” The word to confirm is a compound word, e)pisthrizw [e)pi = upon; sthrizw = to establish], which comes to means to stabilise. He came to stabilise their souls, and to do this he had to communicate Bible doctrine. It takes doctrine in the human spirit in order for the believer to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, rather than by the old sin nature. Confirming of the souls means the communication of Bible doctrine so that individuals throughout these areas become spiritually self-sustaining. It is the objective of the Christian life for every believer to have enough doctrine so that he is totally and completely dependent upon God, so that he understands the grace of God, is oriented to the plan of God, and so that wherever he goes and whatever he does he can have perfect inner happiness and peace, and does not have to use people as a crutch.
“and exhorting them to continue in the faith” – the first thing Paul did was to exhort them. The word to exhort is parakalew [para = the preposition of immediate source; kalew = to call, to shout]. The immediate source is the doctrine that Paul has in his human spirit, and this doctrine is called out, communicated. The word “continue” simply means to abide in—e)mmenw. It means that once you get some doctrine, use it; “the faith” – a technical word referring to the whole realm of doctrine.
“and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” – Suffering: a) all suffering in the Christian life is designed for blessing; b) The exception is divine discipline—Hebrews 12:6; c) The exception is removed by means of rebound; d) the principle of Romans 8:28. “Much tribulation” refers to the suffering categories of the Christian way of life.
“into the kingdom of God” refers to phase three of the plan of God, eternity.
Verse 23 – the indigenous concept. “And when they had ordained them elders.” They would go into an area and start to teach the Word of God. As they began to present doctrine to these individuals, these individuals’ souls would begin to fill up with doctrine, and as a result spiritual gifts would eventually be manifested—pastor-teacher.
“commended them to the Lord” – you can do so much with any believer. You can teach them so much and then you have to commend them to the Lord. The word “commend” is paratiqhmi, it was a banker’s term [para = preposition of immediate source; tiqhmi = to place or deposit]. After Paul had given them a crash course in theology he deposits them with the Lord. The point is that you can teach so much and then you have to walk away from it. You can’t make them do it, you simply communicate and then walk away.
“on whom they believed” – every pastor was saved.
Verses 24 and 25 – follow up.
Verse 26 – the word “recommended” doesn’t exactly mean recommended. The Greek is paradidomai [para = preposition of immediate source; didomi = to give] which means to give from the immediate source. The word was used to betray, and it came to mean that through a transitional word meaning to deliver over. This is probably what this word means here. They had been delivered over to the grace of God. In other words, when Paul and Barnabas departed from Antioch of Syria, the third largest city in the Roman empire and now the centre of missionary activity, they were delivered over by the church to the grace of God. God would take care of them.
“for the work which they fulfilled” – they have fulfilled the work and they have now returned.
Verse 27 – “they rehearsed” means they gave a report.
Verse 28 simply says they took a vacation.