But there came Jews from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds and stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing him to have died.
A short while before, Lystra had wanted to worship Paul as a god; now the same crowd stones him, stirred up by men from distant cities. The verse shows how fast praise turns to hatred, how far hatred will travel, and how safe a servant's life is in God's hands.
Lystra had wanted to offer sacrifice to Paul. Soon after, the same people left him for dead. One writer draws a lesson about human nature from both scenes.
At Iconium people saw the power of Him who was with His word. Now at Lystra the crowd shows how fickle it is: they soon stone the man they had first wanted to worship as a god... Men will idolise you, perhaps; for God has lost His place with them, and it is easily given to another. They will destroy their idol just as easily.
These Jews had already driven Paul out of Antioch and Iconium. One writer measures how far they came to reach him again.
Their Jewish persecutors followed them from Iconium, about 30 miles away. Others came from Antioch, about 100 miles away. Does it not show what malice men are capable of, that they would travel such distances to oppose the Word of God? Once these persecutors arrived in Lystra, they persuaded the people that Paul was not fit to live. So they stoned him.
The crowd threw the stones; the visitors supplied the persuasion. One writer looks at what made each of them ready for it.
But idolatry was not the only danger at Lystra... This is mostly the work of men who know some truth, but are jealous of more and better. These are the men who stifle conscience and thirst for blood — the blood of God's saints and Christ's servants. Their ill-will blinds them, so they see these servants as the worst of men. So it was, and so it is... That very refusal of the honour the people of Lystra were ready to pay is deeply offensive to man. It makes him ready to believe the most hateful lies about those he was about to worship.
Paul had once urged others to stone Stephen. Now the same thing happens to him, and commentators read the parallel in two ways. One sees God's government still at work in the life of a forgiven man.
God's grace met him while his wicked opposition to Christ and His saints was at full flood. God saved him, blessed him and transformed him. But this did not stop God's righteous government working on the earth. Many of his later sufferings for Christ matched his own earlier misdeeds exactly. He instigated the stoning of Stephen, and before long was stoned himself.
Another writer refuses to call it payment at all, and reads the same parallel as a mark of honour:
Stephen was stoned, and so was Paul; both for the Lord Jesus, and each a distinct and remarkable 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 punishment, but abounding grace.
They dragged him outside and left him, sure he was dead. One writer points to the hand that was over him.
But the Lord, who had announced such suffering for him, had watched over His servant. He was in His own hands, as every child of God is in His care. The enemy stood behind the furious mob, just as he stood behind the attempt to sacrifice to them. He would have killed Paul. But he could not touch Paul's life, just as he was not permitted to touch the life of another servant of God, Job (Job 2:6).
One writer dates Paul's greatest revelation to this very hour.
God gave him that marvellous revelation: he was "caught up into paradise and heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" (2 Cor. 12:4). As far as we can judge, it came just when others on earth had given up hope for his life for Christ's sake. The mob had "stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead." It was the right moment to let a man who seemed finished with earth see what heaven was like. So in His wonderful wisdom God lets this man see and hear Jesus there. Then he comes back to earth, to the place from which Christ was cast out. There he learns afresh that the grace of Christ is enough.
- Crowd — the people who wanted to sacrifice to Paul stoned him. A crowd that puts a man in God's place will destroy its idol just as easily.
- Conspiracy — his enemies travelled up to a hundred miles to reach him. They knew some truth, but were jealous of more.
- Correspondence — Paul is stoned, as he once urged others to stone Stephen. Writers differ: is this God's government matching his old deeds, or grace giving him Stephen's honour?
- Custody — they dragged him out satisfied, but his life was never theirs to take, any more than Job's was.
- Compensation — when earth thought him finished, heaven showed him paradise. He came back to prove that Christ's grace is enough.
But while the disciples encircled him, he rose up and entered into the city. And on the morrow he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.
Paul lies outside Lystra, stoned and dragged out for dead by the same crowd that had just tried to worship him. Then the disciples gather round him, and he stands up and walks back through the same gates.
Did Paul die? One writer marks off what we cannot know, and then says what is certain.
Paul now goes through the very thing he had helped to bring on Stephen. In Stephen's case God did not step in; in Paul's case He did. Was Paul dead, or only beaten to the edge of death? We have no way of knowing. Either way, his return to normal health and strength, almost in an instant, was a miracle. The next day he set out to preach the gospel in another city, just as though nothing had happened to him.
One writer looks past the mob to the enemy behind it, and to the limit God held him to.
But the Lord, who had said beforehand that he would suffer like this, had watched over His servant. Paul was in the Lord's own hands, as every child of God is in His care. The enemy stood behind the furious mob, just as he stood behind the earlier attempt to offer sacrifices to them, and he would have killed Paul. But he could not touch Paul's life, just as he was not allowed to touch the life of another servant of God, Job. His sudden recovery was supernatural.
Commentators differ here: another writer holds that Paul never died at all, and points to the work still in front of him.
But his life was still in him, as Paul himself said later about Eutychus. Paul's work was only beginning, not finished. His staying alive in the body was needed for many sinners and for all saints. He could not die like this, though Jews had stirred up Gentiles to do their worst and imagined it was all over.
Rising up was one thing. Walking back into Lystra was another, and the same writer weighs the two options Paul refused.
It was not enough that he stood up; he went into the city that had just dragged him out as a corpse... Fear would have said, Go anywhere else for now. Self would have whispered, Stay where you are, and see what a triumph this will be for the gospel later! But neither of these thoughts of man is the mind of Christ. The apostle had the mind of Christ, and acted on it. May we have it too, by His grace!
Who were the disciples standing round him? One writer offers a name, as a likelihood rather than a fact.
At Lystra they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. It is very likely that the boy Timothy was among the disciples who "gathered about him" when he "rose up and entered the city."... Yet he did not hesitate to follow Paul, though he must have known well that it would mean sharing the same kind of persecution.
The verse ends with a journey. One writer measures it.
But his life was in God's hands... They had stoned him and left him for dead, and his enemies were satisfied. Now the Lord worked and raised up His servant... The next day he was able to travel, and he went with Barnabas to break new ground at Derbe. He did not only recover: he was fit for the twenty-mile journey the next day, and able to start preaching the good news of salvation in a new place.
Another writer draws out the wider pattern: violence does not decide where a servant of God goes.
But it was not in the thoughts of God that His servant should die then... Cruelty and violence neither stop the work nor weaken the courage of His servants. When the Lord wills it, they come back in peace to the very places they were driven out of. It is beautiful to see the calm superiority of faith over the violence of man, and how God guides the hearts of His servants.
- Struck down — Paul suffered what he had once helped inflict on Stephen. This time God stepped in. Whether or not he died, the near-instant recovery was a miracle.
- Held — the mob could reach his body but not his life. He was in God's hands. The enemy behind the crowd got only so far, as with Job.
- Raised — his work was only beginning, so it could not end at Lystra. Many sinners and all saints still needed him alive.
- Returned — he did not just stand up. He walked back into the city that had dragged him out. Fear and self both said otherwise, and he listened to neither.
- Sent on — the next morning he walked twenty miles to Derbe and preached in a new place. Violence neither stops the work nor weakens the courage of those who do it.