And having announced the glad tidings to that city, and having made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and Iconium, and Antioch,
The first missionary journey reached its farthest point at Derbe. Nobody threw a stone there. Then came the decision that shapes this verse: Paul and Barnabas turned around and walked back through the three cities that had already driven them out.
Derbe is the one city on this stretch of the journey where nothing goes wrong. One writer ties that quiet to the small number of Jews in the town, and gives the better sense of the words "made many disciples":
Remember that it was usually the Jews who stirred up the trouble, using Gentiles as their tools. So if there were few Jews in Derbe, it is no surprise that they were left free from persecution in that city. This agrees with what Paul wrote many years later. He lists the treatment he met on this journey at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra (2 Tim. 3:11), but he mentions no opposition at Derbe. So here they could work in peace, preaching the gospel as they always did, and great blessing followed. For they made many disciples (Acts 14:21) — that is the better translation. It was a breathing time for them.
From Derbe, a visit to Cilicia or Tarsus lay open. One commentator points out that the man who had blamed John Mark for leaving the work would not now leave it himself:
This, or the country round about, was the farthest limit westward for the present. A visit to Cilicia, or even to Tarsus, might have looked like an inviting opportunity. But he had blamed John Mark for leaving them and the work to return to Jerusalem. He was not the man to allow such a claim.
Lystra had stoned Paul. All three cities had thrown him out, and he goes back to every one. One writer sees faith rising calmly above human violence:
He was much blessed in this city. Then he goes on his way and returns to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, the cities that had expelled him. 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. It is beautiful to see how God guides the hearts 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.
Another writer pictures the scene from the town's side:
We may wonder how the people of Lystra felt when they saw this man they had stoned to death preaching again in their city.
Why go back? In each city they had left new converts behind, and the question was what would happen to them:
They had been evangelising as they passed from city to city, and many converts were the result. Would they leave them, when just converted, to get on as best they could? From 1 Thess. 2:17-18 and 3:10 we learn that this was not what the Apostle Paul wanted. He knew that converts had to be established in the faith. When he was allowed to, he loved to revisit the places where he had worked, to do just that. And no persecution that he had met with could deter him from such a service.
The journey out and the journey back were two different kinds of work:
Their outward journey ended at Derbe. It had been a journey of gospel work and suffering. On the way back they gave themselves to pastoral work, to confirm and establish the souls of the disciples in the faith.
Not everyone can do both kinds of work:
First, they were "establishing the souls of the disciples". This is a necessary part of the labour of love, and a real need for new-born souls. Many who are blessed in awakening others have little power to confirm young disciples. Here were servants of the Lord fitted beyond all to help on the unestablished.
A commentator traces Timothy back to this visit, though the verse never names him:
It seems that Timothy was brought to the Lord in this area, during this visit, through the apostle Paul (1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2). In Acts 16:1 he is already called a disciple in Derbe and Lystra, well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Here no reference is made to him, though grace had great things in store for him.
- Peace — Derbe was a breathing time. No opposition is recorded there, and they made many disciples.
- Turn — a visit to Cilicia or Tarsus lay open from Derbe, but Paul would not let it pull him from the work.
- Courage — they walked back into Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, the cities that had driven them out. Violence neither stopped the work nor weakened the workers.
- Care — the reason was the converts: they would not leave new believers to get on as best they could.
- Fruit — the journey out was evangelism, the journey back was pastoral care. Out of these towns came Timothy.
establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to abide in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And having chosen them elders in each assembly, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
Paul and Barnabas travel back through the cities they had just visited, and before leaving they choose elders and commit the young believers to the Lord. Much of the argument over how a church is led turns on this one verse: who did the choosing, and what does "appointed" mean?
Many English versions translate the verb "ordained," and some read a church vote into it. The same Greek word appears elsewhere in the New Testament, and neither reading survives the comparison.
The apostles chose elders for the assemblies in every city. The elders were neither chosen by common vote nor ordained. That is not the true rendering of the word. The word means "chose." The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 8:19, where the assemblies chose brothers to travel with Paul carrying the money collected for the poor of Jerusalem. The same word occurs again in Acts 10:41, there of God, and "chosen" is the only possible sense. The letter to Titus is a further proof that the authority of the apostles was the source of the authority of the elders.
The verb can also point to a show of hands, and that is why some read a vote into it. But one writer says two small words in the sentence rule that out: for them.
Scripture nowhere points to the churches picking elders by a show of hands, or in any other way. If the word did carry that sense here, it would mean that Paul and Barnabas chose the elders by a vote. Nobody holds that, or wants to. The pronoun "for them" confirms this still more. It shuts the disciples out of the part in the election they would like. It makes the apostles choose the elders for the saints concerned. Of all the readings, then, the worst is the friendly compromise that says the apostles ordained whoever each church elected.
The verse names elders, plural, in every church. One writer explains what those men were called, and what the timing of their appointment shows.
The elders and bishops, or overseers, were the same people. The verse shows that the apostles appointed the elders, and that there were several of them in each assembly. It also shows that the assembly was not dependent on them. The journey described took a long time. Until the apostle returned to each city, the church of that city had no elders. That was so despite the persecution it endured and the little knowledge it had.
The delay was not an oversight. No one became an elder on the day these people believed.
Souls were saved and assemblies were formed. Afterwards we find the apostles returning and strengthening the disciples. More than that, enough time had passed to reveal who were qualified to be elders in these assemblies.
Prayer and fasting come with the choice, and each meets a need in the work. Notice, too, who the apostles then hand the believers to.
Making the choice needed apostolic discernment. It needed a real spirit of dependence on God, so they prayed. It needed a refusal of the desires of the flesh, so they fasted. They chose the elders so that all might recognise them. Even so, they did not put the rest of the believers into the hands of the elders. No, they "committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed." Faith set each believer in direct connection and communion with the Lord. The apostles appointed elders not to block the faith of the saints, but to stir it up to more reality and depth.
Note who receives the commendation, and what the fasting says about the men who did it.
The apostles chose elders in each assembly in this region, but then, interestingly, commended the other believers to the Lord — not to the elders. While oversight was useful and necessary (and its official institution possible while there were apostles on earth), each believer had and kept a direct relationship with the Lord in whom they had believed. The apostles' prayer with fasting shows how intensely they longed that each of these young believers should prosper spiritually, in direct communion with the Lord.
The apostles did the appointing, and writers hold that no one carries that authority now. The work itself, though, has not stopped.
We have no such apostolic power or delegated authority today. But we can still rely on the Holy Spirit to raise up qualified and able men, and to give them energy to take the oversight of His flock and to feed His lambs and sheep. The Holy Spirit was at work then, and it must be the Holy Spirit now. Suppose God raises up an elder or elders in an assembly. They go after the wanderers, warn the disorderly, comfort those who are cast down, and counsel, correct and guide souls. Then we should gladly own such men and value them very highly for their work's sake.
- Chose. The verb means to choose. The same word covers God's choice in Acts 10:41 and the assemblies' choice of men to carry money. Neither ordination nor voting is in it.
- For them. Paul and Barnabas chose for the disciples. The pronoun rules out the churches electing their own leaders.
- After time. The believers went a long time without elders. Time had to show who was fit before anyone was appointed.
- With prayer and fasting. The choice called for dependence on God and a refusal of the flesh. It was not a procedure but a matter of the heart.
- Commended to the Lord. The apostles handed the saints to the One they had believed, not to their elders. Oversight deepens personal faith; it never stands in front of it.