And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed.
Paul and Barnabas come to Iconium and go straight into the Jewish synagogue. The verse turns on one small phrase — they spoke "in such a way" — and on a result no preacher can produce: a great number of Jews and Greeks believing side by side.
Their choice of the synagogue followed a set order. Paul himself stated that order when he wrote about the gospel.
Even Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, could write of the gospel he preached: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16). Again and again we find Paul going first to the synagogue, following out the divine thought, "to the Jew first."
Something kept drawing Paul back to his own people, city after city.
Perhaps no feature of his life is more striking or more instructive than this: nothing turns Paul's heart away from the poor Jews. He loved them with an unreturned affection. He loved them despite all their hatred and their envy. Into the synagogue he went again here, as in each new place that he visits.
The verse does not simply say they spoke. It says they spoke in such a way that people believed. One writer reads that as a comment on how they handled words, while still holding that faith is God's work.
What this account stresses is certainly the help found in God. He links Himself to human weakness so as to make it "mighty through God." First, in the synagogue, they "spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed." Bringing men to Himself is clearly the work of God. Yet He is still pleased to give effect to the words of His people, so that it can be said they spoke in a way that produced faith. There is a right fitting of words to that end, and we must not overlook it. It is a skill that only a wisdom born of love can give, and it does not despise diligence in reaching its ends.
Another writer puts the weight on where that ability comes from, not on the skill.
Here they entered the synagogue, and the Spirit of God gave them grace to speak in a way that deeply moved a great number of both Jews and Gentiles to believe the gospel. They were not always given power to speak like this. No special self-effort can produce it. It depends entirely on the energizing power of the Spirit of God. If we desire this, let us pray for it and depend on God for it.
Older translations read that they "so spoke," which echoes another famous "so" in Scripture. One writer sets the two side by side.
Connect the "so" of this verse with "God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." And Paul and Barnabas so spoke that a multitude believed. George Whitefield, it is said, felt the love of God and the need of souls so deeply that he often wept over people while preaching. Little wonder that they wept under him. The Lord help you and me to preach like that.
The verse names two groups believing together. The second had a reputation that made their faith surprising.
The Greeks were an intellectual people who looked for wisdom. A crucified Christ was foolishness to them. How could they, on their own, put faith in a man crucified alongside criminals? But to the called ones Christ became the power and wisdom of God. 1 Cor. 1:22-24. When Paul preached the gospel among them, "great multitudes" believed and lost their proud nationality in Christ.
The blessing of verse 1 leads straight into trouble in verse 2. The two are connected.
There was without doubt marked blessing at Iconium. The Lord honoured and greatly used the bold preaching of His grace: "a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed." This roused the enemy. The Jews who disobeyed the good news stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and turned them against the brothers and sisters. The trouble did not come from outside. It came from the Jews on the spot, who refused God's message and turned away.
- Order — Paul goes to the synagogue first, in every new city, because the gospel is "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."
- Love — rejection at Antioch did not close his heart; he kept loving a people who returned him hatred.
- Manner — they spoke in such a way that people believed. Commentators differ: some stress words rightly fitted to their purpose, others the Spirit's power, which no self-effort can supply.
- Reach — Jews and Greeks believed side by side. Greeks who called a crucified Christ foolish lost their proud nationality in Him.
- Result — real blessing does not buy peace. The great number who believed is what woke the opposition.
But the Jews who did not believe stirred up the minds of [those of] the nations and made [them] evil-affected against the brethren.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
They stayed therefore a good while, speaking boldly, [confiding] in the Lord, who gave witness to the word of his grace, giving signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Paul and Barnabas had just been driven out of Antioch in Pisidia, and at Iconium the same hostility rises against them. Yet it makes them stay longer instead of moving on, and the Lord Himself backs the message they preach.
The word "therefore" at the start of the verse turns the scene around.
Unbelieving Jews again at Iconium used their evil influence to stir up bitter hostility. But the apostles were not driven out of the city. They kept preaching the Word there for a long time, in the face of such persecution. The Lord also gave special witness to the truth by granting signs and wonders to be done through them. Notice the word "therefore" in verse 3. The opposition was a reason for their remaining there, so long as it did not erupt in violence.
Their boldness was not nerve of their own. Older translations read "confiding in the Lord" where the ESV has "speaking boldly for the Lord."
Paul and Barnabas grew bold. Boldness goes along with confidence in the Lord. "They so spoke that a great number … believed." How did they speak? "Trusting in the Lord." If you have a gift you need the Lord's help, and if you are weak and nothing, you will surely have it.
The verse calls the message "the word of his grace." A contrast with how God spoke earlier explains the name.
In the past He spoke through Moses, as recorded in the Old Testament: that was the Word of His demand upon men. Now He has spoken in Christ, as recorded in the New Testament; and that is the Word of His grace. To this Word we are specially commended, for it is able to build us up in the faith. It also gives us that inheritance among all the sanctified, in spiritual power and enjoyment.
The Lord bore witness to the word, yet two men did the speaking. Scripture holds both facts together.
God accepts the brave deeds of His servants and puts them to their account. Yet it is all done in His strength, and by the grace He gives. So to Him all the glory is due. In one place we read that "God bore witness to the word of His grace." In another an apostle speaks by the same Spirit of a man he had fathered in his chains, as if he himself had brought about the man's conversion. But this shows how gracious God is: He owns us as His instruments, and makes much of our little service.
The miracles serve the preaching; they do not replace it. The wording of the verse itself puts them second.
The Lord "bore witness to the word of His grace, by granting" (rather than, "and granted") "signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Here we read of miracles: at Antioch we read of none. But, as is common in the work among the Gentiles, they have a subordinate place. The word was first spoken, then miracles were worked to confirm it.
At Antioch in Pisidia there were no such signs. That difference shapes how one writer weighs such power.
Here too the weak are with the Strong. He protects them and enables them to keep going while the opposition lasts. He may do it by means of the signs and wonders which He grants them to do, and of which at Antioch we hear nothing. They seem by no means, therefore, a necessary accompaniment of the gospel, but rather an occasional help.
Signs are strong evidence. But evidence is not what decides most people.
It is a solemn fact, however, that such deeds of divine energy, as a rule, do not turn the stubborn heart. Men judge mainly by their feelings, whatever qualms of conscience they may have. And where the will is set on its own way, none are so hardened as those who breathe a constant atmosphere of miracle. We see this in Israel's history in the wilderness.
- Opposition — the hostility did not end the mission. The word "therefore" makes it the reason they stayed on.
- Dependence — they spoke boldly in the Lord. Confidence in Him, not natural courage, makes weak servants speak out.
- Grace — they did not preach God's demand on men, as through Moses. They preached His word of grace in Christ, which builds us up and gives an inheritance.
- Witness — God backed that message Himself, granting signs through their hands. He still credits the service to His servants.
- Limit — signs served the word; they never replaced it. And no miracle bends a will that is set against God.
And the multitude of the city was divided, and some were with the Jews and some with the apostles.
Paul and Barnabas preached at Iconium, and the city split over it. Luke's short sentence raises two questions. Why does one message tear a town in half? And why does Luke call both men "apostles" here?
This was no quiet audience making up its mind. The split came after bold preaching backed by miracles. It shows how little evidence can do against a will that is set.
It is a solemn fact that such deeds of divine energy, as a rule, do not turn the stubborn heart. Men judge mainly by their feelings, whatever their conscience may say. And where the will is set on its own way, no one is more hardened than people who live surrounded by constant miracles. We see this in Israel's years in the wilderness. So here, in the face of it all, the crowd of the city split in two. Some held with the apostles; others held with the Jews just as firmly.
The split was not "religious people versus outsiders." Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) had little in common, yet they lined up together against the two preachers.
They were favoured with the clear working of God among them. Yet the residents of Iconium divided into two camps. Many sided with the Jews against Paul and Barnabas, and many others took a stand with the apostles. We may wonder that Gentiles sided with Jews, but this happens where both share a hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A city can only divide over something it has heard. The split shows how public their work had been.
The results were striking, great, and, we may say, immediate: "The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles." This was not work done in a corner. The apostles did not carry on their work in the dark, like conspirators. They worked as men who did not fear the fullest publicity. They did not shrink from the light.
Luke calls both men apostles here, and again later in the same chapter. The word could mean no more than a messenger a church sends on an errand. One writer argues it means far more here.
It would be a wrong to Paul and Barnabas to rank them as mere "messengers of the churches" entrusted with supplies for poor believers. They are called "the apostles" twice over — not Paul only, but Barnabas also — in the same chapter that records their choice of elders.
Still, the title does not cover every man in the same way. That raises a question the writers leave open.
What is the New Testament thought of an apostle, and in what sense were the twelve and Paul apostles above all others? See, for instance, Acts 14:4, where Barnabas is associated with Paul as an apostle, and yet we all instinctively feel that there was a difference.
Luke names two parts, not three. Nobody in Iconium stands outside the split, and one writer presses the same choice on every reader.
Note there is no neutrality of position or practice. No one can say, "I am not with Christ, but I am not against Him." It is either "with" or "against." Nor can anyone say, "Though I do not gather, I do not scatter." It is either gathering or scattering. One counts two on a division. How searching this is!
Under pressure the two men gave way. That is not counted as failure here.
So they bowed to the storm. Nothing at all of what men call heroism marked the apostles. There was something much better — the simplicity of grace. Patience is the true wisdom, but God alone can give it.
- Preaching divides. Open preaching, not secret scheming, split Iconium in two. The division proves the city heard the message.
- Miracles don't decide. Miracles went with the preaching, yet a will set on its own way stays hard.
- Enemies unite. Jews and Gentiles, unlikely partners, found common ground in shared hostility to Christ.
- Two sides only. Iconium held two camps, not three. No one can claim to be neither with Christ nor against Him.
- Patience, not bravado. The apostles bowed to the storm instead of playing the hero — grace, not bravery, marked them.
And when an assault was making, both of [those of] the nations and [the] Jews with their rulers, to use [them] ill and stone them,
The work in the city of Iconium had gone well: crowds of Jews and Greeks believed, and the preaching went on a long time. Then the opposition changed shape — Gentiles, Jews and the city's rulers joined in one plan against the two preachers.
Miracles went with the preaching here. They did not bend the will of those set against the message. One writer notes what happened instead:
It is a solemn fact that such deeds of divine energy, as a rule, do not turn the stubborn heart. Men judge mainly by their feelings, whatever the qualms of conscience may be. And where the will is set on its own way, none are so hardened as those who live surrounded by miracles day after day. We see this in Israel's history in the wilderness. So here, in the face of it all, the crowd in the city split in two. Some held with the apostles; others held just as firmly with the Jews.
Jews and Gentiles were not natural allies. What pulled them together was not agreement but a shared target:
We may wonder at Gentiles siding with Jews, but this happens in cases where there is a common enmity against the Lord Jesus Christ.
One writer notes that in the attack they no longer stood as two groups:
They were joined in one body in the assault. Gentiles and Jews made only one body, one object in the apostle's mind.
Was this a mob already in motion, or a plan still being laid? Kelly weighs the wording and argues for a plan the preachers heard about before it broke out:
The word here seems to mean a plan or a first move of this kind, not an "assault"... If there had been a real rush, the words "becoming aware of" make little sense. Such a rush could not be doubted, and it would have made escape hard... Suppose they learned of a plan to abuse and stone them, a plan so widely formed that it carried along Gentiles and Jews with their rulers. Then they judged it wise to leave at once.
Opposition alone had not moved them. An organised plan did.
As long as it was only opposition, it was simply a reason to keep going. But a warning reached them in time about an assault planned against them, and they leave for Lystra and Derbe.
These men had already preached on under pressure for a long time. One writer finds in their flight something better than heroism:
So they bowed to the storm. Nothing at all of what men call heroism marked the apostles. What was there is far better — the simplicity of grace. Patience is the true wisdom, but only God can give it.
The stoning planned here failed. It caught Paul later, and it carried a personal weight: he had once urged the same thing on Stephen.
His opponents attempted this more than once; it took effect only once... Here we can again notice the striking moral link between his sufferings as a Christian and his earlier violence as a Pharisee. Stephen was stoned, and so was Paul; both for the Lord Jesus, and each as a separate and singular example of His grace. Paul was allowed to taste the very thing he had once urged others to inflict on the man who ran the race of faith before him. That was not vindictive payback, but abounding grace.
The plotters meant to end the work. Instead they spread it:
This was the wise course. Once violence begins, it does not stop quickly, and it would have reached many more than the apostles. More than this: a testimony to Christ now stood in Iconium, and the Lord uses persecution to send His servants to other places to proclaim His name.
- Blessing provokes. Many believed at Iconium, and that success roused the opposition. Signs and wonders did not soften a will already set against Christ.
- Enmity unites. Jews and Gentiles formed one body in the plot. Shared hostility to Christ binds people no other cause could bind.
- A plan, discovered. The wording points to a scheme the preachers heard of before it broke. That is why escape was still possible.
- Flight is wisdom. Leaving was not cowardice but patience, and patience is the wisdom only God can give.
- God redirects. The plot closed Iconium and opened Lystra and Derbe. The stoning fell on Paul later, and even that was grace, not payback.
they, being aware of it, fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country,
Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Iconium when word reached them of a plot: Jews, Gentiles and the city rulers meant to stone them. They slipped quietly away, and their escape raises a question every servant of God faces: when is leaving right, and what happens to the work you leave behind?
The apostles learned of the plot before anyone acted on it. One commentator argues that no mob had yet formed. What reached them was a settled plan.
But the intent of violence, which had leaked out, brought the testimony to a close: the word here seems to mean a plan or an attempt, not an actual "assault"... If there had been a real rush, the words "becoming aware of" would make little sense. Nobody could doubt a rush, and it would have made escape hard. If they learned of a plan to abuse and stone them, they judged it wise to leave at once. That plan was so widely formed that it carried along Gentiles and Jews with their rulers. So they fled, and there they carried on their gospel work.
Leaving was not panic. It followed an instruction the Lord had given long before, and Paul kept to it.
He had also laid down a general principle long before: "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next" (Matthew 10:23). Paul and his companions clearly carried out that principle later, even to shaking the dust off their feet (Acts 14:6; Acts 17:10-14).
Their retreat was not heroism. One commentator calls it something better.
So they bowed to the storm. Nothing at all of what men call heroism marked the apostles. There was something far better — the simplicity of grace. Patience is the true wisdom, but only God can give it.
The destination was not random. Iconium and these two towns sat under different rulers. Crossing that line put the apostles beyond the reach of the officials who had joined the plot.
Like Iconium, Lystra and Derbe lay in the old province of Lycaonia. By this time that province had several different governments. Iconium, as we have said, was under a tetrarch, a minor local ruler. Lystra and Derbe had belonged since AD 37 to the territory of Antiochus IV, King of Commagene. This explains why the historian says they fled to Lystra and Derbe. A different power ruled these two cities. Lystra lay about forty miles from Iconium and about twenty miles from Derbe.
The danger pushed them into new ground. At Lystra the gospel met something it had not met before.
During this first mission among the Gentiles, a great and blessed work was done... At Lystra, Christianity met paganism for the first time. But in every place the gospel triumphs, and Paul's various gifts as a workman appear in the most blessed way. He addressed Jews who knew the Scriptures, ignorant barbarians, cultivated Greeks, and enraged mobs. In every case he proves himself a chosen vessel, fitted by God for his great work.
Here a pattern begins. Violence moves the preachers on, and then God brings them back.
Outrage and violence neither hinder the work nor weaken the courage of the servants. When the Lord so wills it, they return in peace to the very places from which they have been driven. It is beautiful to see the calm superiority of faith over the violence of man, and how God guides the heart of His servants. They submit to violence, or avoid it if possible; but if the work needs it, God opens the door, and the labourers are there with it again.
In Lystra, one of the towns they fled to, Paul nearly died. Yet lasting fruit remained there.
Paul and Barnabas fled there from Iconium, and there cured a cripple... Soon afterwards, however, the Jews stirred up the people, who stoned Paul and left him for dead. The labours of the apostles were not in vain; an assembly of saints was gathered there. Paul visited it again on his second missionary journey. There he met Timothy and attached him to his mission.
- Warned — the apostles heard of the plot to stone them before it broke. They escaped a settled plan, not yet a mob.
- Guided — their flight was obedience, not nerves. The Lord had told His own to move to the next town when persecuted.
- Placed — Lystra and Derbe lay under a different ruler from Iconium. That is why those two towns made the safe refuge.
- Preaching — the move did not pause the work. They carried the gospel into the surrounding country, and at Lystra it met open idol-worship for the first time.
- Fruit — that forced move produced a healed cripple, a stoning Paul survived, an assembly of believers, and young Timothy.
and there they were announcing the glad tidings.
A plot to stone them drove Paul and Barnabas out of Iconium into new country. The one thing recorded about their arrival is that they kept preaching, which raises two questions: was running away right, and what does their preaching mean?
Their escape was not blind panic. One writer sees them acting on instructions the Lord had already given His followers. The move took them into wilder country:
The city was divided. At last a determined attack was coming — Jews and Gentiles together would try to stone them. So, acting on the Lord's words to the disciples, they flee to Lystra and Derbe, in the wilder parts of Lycaonia. There they pursue their work.
Some readers assume a bold servant of Christ should stand his ground and accept whatever comes. William Kelly answers that instinct, and points to the Lord's own word to His servants:
Faith never teaches one to court danger and difficulty, but to walk the path of Christ in peace and thankfulness. The Lord has not called His servants to desert it. I dare say some of us have been struck by this: the Lord told them to flee to another city when one city persecuted them. This is surely not courting martyrdom, but the very opposite.
They acted on news that had leaked out. Kelly weighs the wording of the previous verse and finds a plot that had come to light, not a mob already in the streets:
If they got word of a plan to attack and stone them, they judged it wise to leave at once. The plan was so widely formed that it carried along Gentiles and Jews with their rulers. So they fled to the cities of Lycaonia — Lystra, Derbe and the country around — and there they went on with their gospel work.
The hostility that emptied Iconium of its preachers filled other towns with them. Leslie Grant sees two reasons why leaving was right — one practical, one much larger:
This was the wise course. Once violence starts, it does not stop soon, and it would have affected many more than the apostles. There is more. Now that a testimony to Christ stood in Iconium, the Lord uses persecution to send His servants to other places to proclaim His name.
The same thing had happened earlier in Acts. One writer draws out the encouragement:
The devil let his fury loose on the believers in Jerusalem, hoping to stamp out the name of Christ for good. He only drove the gospel into a wider field. God's purpose was fulfilled in this: the gospel reached the Gentiles. So God makes the wrath of the devil and of men praise Him.
Some take the word for preaching the gospel in this verse as proof of formal appointment. One writer tests that claim against the way Scripture uses the two main words for preaching:
The other word means to proclaim as a herald. It has no connection at all with office and authority, or with regular organised congregations. Neither has the word for preaching good news. This herald word is used of the Lord and the apostles, and just as freely of others too. So Mark 5:20 uses it of the man set free from demons, and Philippians 1:15 of the brothers at Rome — some of them preaching Christ out of envy and strife, some out of goodwill.
The towns they reached were not familiar ground. One writer describes what kind of place Lycaonia was:
In Acts 14:8-18 we find ourselves among the people of a district that was shrouded in pagan darkness. The solemn fact lies plainly on the surface. In heathen Lycaonia God was unknown.
The preaching in these towns met violence, but it left something behind:
Soon afterwards, however, the Jews stirred up the people, and they stoned Paul and left him for dead. The work of the apostles was not in vain; an assembly of believers came together there. Paul visited the city again on his second missionary journey, and there he met Timothy and attached him to his mission.
- Threat. News of a planned stoning reached them, and they judged it wise to leave at once.
- Flight. They left because the Lord had told them to, not out of fear. Faith walks Christ's path; it does not go looking for danger.
- Field. The enemy drove them out. God used it to send His servants where no one had heard His name.
- Word. Preaching was not the property of an official class. Scripture uses these words of the Lord, of apostles, and of ordinary believers alike.
- Fruit. The work in that dark ground bore fruit: an assembly of believers formed, and Timothy came out of it.
And a certain man in Lystra, impotent in his feet, sat, [being] lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked.
Lystra was not a synagogue town. Here the message met raw paganism head on. The first person Luke singles out is a man who had never once stood on his own feet.
One writer reads the setting from what Luke does not mention:
The miracle was probably done in the open air, with the apostles preaching in public, for there is no mention of a synagogue in Lystra or in Derbe. Crowds could therefore see what had happened. The powerless man was on his feet, using his legs in a way he never had before.
The case was beyond argument, and the power at work was unlike anything Lystra's own religion offered.
The healing of the hopelessly lame man was well suited to seize the attention of a rough pagan crowd. It was also a practical and extraordinary witness to the gracious character of God — a character so foreign to the thoughts of man left to himself. It all stood in contrast with the mysterious mutterings their magicians used to work their spells.
One writer pictures him in the crowd before anything happened to him:
The apostles were preaching the Gospel there. One of the listeners was a man crippled from birth, powerless in his feet, and we are not told his name. He heard Paul speak. No doubt he was drawn by news he had never listened to before, and he had no idea of the blessing in this life that was waiting for him. We can imagine him sitting with his eyes fixed on the Apostle. The Apostle now fixed his eyes on him.
The same writer sets the healing beside other miracles in Acts:
At Iconium and at Ephesus we have notices of other miracles worked, but they seem to have confirmed the word spoken before them (14:3; 19:11,12). The miracle at Lystra need not be an exception to this rule. It seems quite possible that the word had taken hold of the powerless man before he leaped up and walked at Paul's command (14:9).
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Before Paul spoke to him, he saw faith in him:
Paul fixed his eyes on him as he spoke, and saw that he had faith to be healed. Clearly the power of the Word through Paul awakened a faith in this man's heart that there was nothing too hard for the Lord. With a loud voice Paul cried out, "Stand upright on your feet." The command carried with it the Divine enabling. The man who had never walked from his birth leaped up and walked.
One writer marks how this healing differs from others in Acts:
At Lystra God showed His power by the hand of Paul in healing a cripple who had never walked. Here we find that the faith of the cripple had to go along with his healing. In other cases we do not see this. The cure came from the power of God alone, working through the person He used as His instrument.
Another writer notes that Scripture allows for faith about one definite matter:
Scripture recognises specific faith about a specific thing. So one of the people healed by a miracle had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9). And 1 Cor. 12:9 plainly teaches that there is a distinct spiritual gift of faith, which some have and some have not.
A man like this was healed once before in Acts, by Peter. The two settings could hardly be more different:
A remarkable miracle took place at Lystra through Paul. A man lame from birth was healed. It was almost the exact counterpart of the miracle Peter worked, which we read of in chapter 3. Peter's miracle happened in the very heart of Judaism... This one happened in front of pagans, who read the wonderful event in the light of their false beliefs. They would have held an idol festival, if the Apostles had not protested.
- Heard. Luke first shows the man in Paul's audience: the message reached him before the miracle did.
- Believed. Paul saw faith already at work — faith fixed on one definite thing, that nothing was too hard for the Lord.
- Raised. The word of command carried the power to obey it; a man who had never walked leaped up and walked.
- Distinct. This cure went with the man's own faith, unlike other healings in Acts that came by God's power alone.
- Misread. The crowd twisted the same wonder that showed God's goodness into an excuse for idol worship.
This [man] heard Paul speaking, who, fixing his eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed,
Paul is preaching at Lystra. In the crowd sits a man crippled from birth who has never walked. He listens, Paul looks straight at him, and Paul sees faith.
Luke introduces this man as a listener, not as a patient. One writer follows the scene closely, down to the tenses Luke chose.
Preaching the gospel there, a cripple from birth, powerless in his feet, whose name we do not know, was one of the audience. He heard Paul speak, and was no doubt drawn by news he had never heard before, unaware of the earthly blessing in store for him. We can picture him sitting with his eyes fixed on the apostle. The apostle now fixed his eyes on him. Perceiving that he had faith to be healed, he said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." "He leaped up," we read, "and walked." He was walking! To spring up was the act of a moment, and never repeated; so Luke uses the aorist tense. He walked — that is, he was walking; so the imperfect tense describes it.
One writer traces the man's faith back to the preaching he had just heard.
Paul, as he spoke, fastened his eyes on him, perceiving that he had faith to be healed. Clearly the power of the Word through Paul awakened a faith in this man's heart that there was nothing too hard for the Lord. With a loud voice Paul cried out, "Stand upright on your feet." The command carried the divine enabling with it.
The faith of the sick person is not named in every healing. One writer marks the difference here.
At Lystra the power of God was shown by the hand of Paul in healing a cripple who had never walked. Here we find that the faith of the crippled man had to go along with his restoration. In other cases this does not appear. There the power of God alone worked the cure, through the one who was His instrument.
Luke did not reach for a medical word here. One writer tracked the same word through other healings.
It is worth noticing that the word sozo, usually translated in the New Testament "save," is used in its general sense of deliverance in regard to healings. It is applied to the crippled man at the temple gate, Acts 4:9, and to the cripple at Lystra, Acts 14:9. In these instances the Greek word is translated "made whole," or "healed."
This man's faith was not a general religious attitude. One writer calls it faith fixed on one definite thing.
Scripture recognizes specific faith about a specific thing. One of the subjects of the miracles had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9). And 1 Corinthians 12:9 plainly teaches that there is a distinct spiritual gift of faith, which some have and some do not… Genuine, divinely-given faith, not mystical or imagined faith, is what is meant here.
Some read this verse as a rule: no faith, no healing. One writer answers plainly.
It might, or might not, be that the patient would himself have faith to be healed. Faith-healers insist on such faith; Scripture does not.
- Hearing. Luke shows the man as a listener first. He "listened to Paul speaking" before he received anything — news he had never heard before.
- Faith. The message itself awakened what Paul saw in him: faith that nothing was too hard for the Lord.
- Sight. The listener watched the preacher, and the preacher fixed his eyes on him. The faith was real enough for Paul to see.
- Wholeness. The word for "healed" here is the word for "saved." It means deliverance — being made whole.
- Caution. This cure names faith; others do not. Commentators call it faith for one specific thing, and they deny that Scripture makes the sick person's faith a rule.
said with a loud voice, Rise up straight upon thy feet and he sprang up and walked.
Paul is preaching in Lystra, among people who do not know the true God, and a man lame from birth is listening. One shouted command puts him on his feet — but whose power did it, what did his faith do, and who deserves the credit?
Paul gives an order to a man whose legs have never held him. The words did more than instruct.
With a loud voice Paul cried out, "Stand upright on your feet." The command carried the enabling power of God with it. The man who had never walked from birth leaped up and walked.
Luke says Paul saw that the man had faith to be made well before he spoke. Commentators note that this sets the Lystra miracle apart from others in Acts.
At Lystra God showed His power through Paul in healing a lame man who had never walked. Here we find that the man's faith had to go with his healing. In other cases this does not appear: the power of God alone worked the cure, through the man He used as His instrument.
Where did that faith come from?
The power of the Word through Paul evidently awakened faith in this man's heart that nothing was too hard for the Lord.
The man was in the audience before he was on his feet. That order matters.
At Iconium and at Ephesus we have records of other miracles. But they seem to confirm the word spoken before them (14:3; 19:11-12). The miracle at Lystra need not be an exception to this rule. It seems likely that the word had already taken hold of the helpless man before he leaped up and walked at Paul's command (14:9).
The verse records a single jump, and then something that carried on. Luke's Greek keeps the two apart.
"He sprang up," we read, "and began walking." He was walking! To spring up was the act of a moment, and never repeated; so Luke uses the aorist tense in telling it. He walked — that is, was walking; so the imperfect tense describes it.
Paul used no chant and no ritual words. Some early copies of Acts add a clause to his command, and the shorter reading carries the lesson.
All this stood in contrast with the mysterious mumblings their wizards used in working their charms. The addition to verse 10 came early, to guard against any hint of pretension in the man who worked the miracle. Its absence is the instructive lesson: such words would be useless in another mouth, as events at Ephesus later proved. And they are not needed at all where the whole life and testimony aim at magnifying Christ. There was no formula anyone had to use.
The healing matches one Peter worked earlier in Acts. The audience does not match.
At Lystra a remarkable miracle was worked through Paul. A man lame from birth was healed. The miracle was almost the exact counterpart of the one Peter worked, which we read of in chapter 3. That was done in the very heart of Judaism... This one was done in front of pagans. They read the wonderful event in the light of their false beliefs, and would have held an idolatrous festival if the Apostles had not protested.
The miracle should have pointed the crowd to Paul's message. It pointed them to the messengers instead.
An amazing miracle like this ought to have drawn people's attention to the message Paul brought. But Satan cunningly took advantage of this to deceive the superstitious people of the city. They got the idolatrous notion that Paul and Barnabas were gods who had come down in human form. Rather than listening to them, they wanted to worship them... Mere excitement carries men to foolish lengths. If it was true that these men were gods, why were they not quiet, wanting to listen to them?
- Hearing first. The man was listening to Paul preach before anything happened to his legs. The sign confirmed a word already spoken.
- Faith next. The preached word awakened faith in him. Unlike other healings in Acts, this one waited on the man's own believing.
- Command then. The order to stand came with the ability to obey it — Paul supplied words, God supplied strength.
- Power without formula. The shorter text has no set phrase. Borrowed words heal nobody, and no formula was needed where a whole life magnified Christ.
- Glory last — and misplaced. The crowd saw the leap and missed the message. Excitement over a miracle is not the same as listening to God.