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.
But the crowds, who saw what Paul had done, lifted up their voices in Lycaonian, saying, The gods, having made themselves like men, are come down to us.
Lystra had no synagogue. There was only a crowd, a man lame from birth now walking, and a shout in the local dialect. What the crowd shouted shows how they read the miracle — and they read it wrong.
The healing happened out in the open, where anyone could see it. The crowd explained it with the gods they already believed in.
The apostles were probably preaching in public and worked the miracle in the open air, for there is no mention of a synagogue there, nor at Derbe. So the crowds could see what had happened. The crippled man was on his feet, using his legs in a way he never had. All were amazed. They spoke in their own language, Lycaonian, and explained it this way: the gods, they thought, had come in human form.
The names were not random. A story of that time had already placed these gods in that region, and the crowd matched each visitor to a name.
It was all the more natural for people who did not know God to conclude what the Lycaonians did. They had a legend that these very gods had once been welcomed in a part of Asia Minor. A Latin poet, Ovid, had made that story popular a little earlier. Physical differences would lead their superstitious minds to name each man, and in Paul's case there was a further reason as well. The proposal to sacrifice to them followed as a matter of course.
The crowd was loud, but it was not listening.
An amazing miracle of this kind surely ought to have drawn people's attention to the message that Paul brought. But Satan was cunning. He used it to deceive the superstitious people of the city, who came up with the idolatrous notion that Paul and Barnabas were gods come down in the form of men. Rather than listening to them, they wanted to worship them... Mere excitement carries men to foolish lengths. If it were true that these men were gods, why were they not quiet, wanting to hear them?
Barnabas and Paul refused the honour the crowd tried to give them. Peter had refused it too. Both refusals point to Jesus, who accepted worship from Thomas, one of His disciples.
It is remarkable that the Spirit of God put it on record that men offered homage to both Peter and Paul. Both men stopped it at once and with force. "Stand up; I too am a man," was Peter's command to Cornelius when that centurion fell at his feet (Acts 10:26). And when the people of Lystra brought sacrifices to offer to Barnabas and Paul, they "tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out... 'We also are men, of like nature with you'" (Acts 14:11-15). These were true men. They would not let anyone think they were more than men, and they would not accept adoration, which belongs to God alone. From these incidents in the lives of His servants we learn something by inference. Jesus was God when He accepted the adoration of Thomas. If not, what was He?
The people who wanted to sacrifice to Paul were soon throwing stones at him. That swing is a warning about human praise.
At Lystra the fickleness of the crowd is on display: they soon stone the man whom at first they would have worshipped as a god... Men will idolize you, perhaps. God has lost His place with them, and they easily give that place to another. They will destroy their idol just as easily.
Paul and Barnabas answered this crowd, but not the way they preached in a synagogue.
What is notable, especially for all those doing the Lord's work, is the variety in the apostles' addresses... The talk in the synagogue was built on the Jewish scriptures. Here, to these men of Lycaonia, there is no reference to the Old Testament at all. Instead there is a plain appeal to what everyone sees and knows: the heavens above them, the seasons God has assigned around them, and the steady supply of good things from His generosity in nature. Even the hardest heart can barely miss it.
- Sight — the crowd watched a real miracle in the open street. They shouted in Lycaonian and read it through the only religion they knew.
- Story — a legend had already placed these gods in that region, so looks, plus one more reason in Paul's case, decided which name went to which man.
- Stir — excitement is not faith; wanting to sacrifice to the messengers meant they never stopped to hear the message.
- Stand — Barnabas and Paul tore their clothes rather than take worship. Christ accepted it, and that marks Him out as more than a man.
- Stones — the crowd that crowned them soon stoned them. To such a crowd the preachers pointed not to Scripture, but to the sky, the seasons and the God who provides through them.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury, because he took the lead in speaking.
At Lystra a crowd has just seen a man lame from birth stand up and walk. Their religion offers one explanation — the gods have come down — so they name Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes (Jupiter and Mercury in older translations).
The names were not random. The crowd matched each man to a god by what it could see and hear.
They called Barnabas Jupiter, since he clearly had the more impressive presence. Paul they called Mercury, because he was the better speaker of the two. The city was famous for its devotion to Jupiter, the so-called father of gods and men. His priest brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice.
The name given to Paul carried a meaning of its own.
In their excitement they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, as being the chief speaker, Mercury being the god of eloquence.
The crowd did not invent this idea on the spot. A story about such a visit was already going around.
It was all the more natural for pagans to conclude what the Lycaonians did. They had a legendary tradition that these very gods had once stayed as guests in a part of Asia Minor. A Latin poet had made the story popular a little earlier. Differences in looks would lead their superstitious minds to identify each man, on top of the specific reason given in Paul's case. The proposal to offer them sacrifice followed as a matter of course.
The verse says Paul led in speaking. The difference in gift was not a fault to fix. Barnabas was right to step back, and Paul was right to use his gift.
It was fitting for Barnabas, when travelling with a more gifted brother, to let Paul be the chief speaker. But would it have been fitting for Paul to refuse to use the gift he had received? Would it have been "all lowliness and meekness" to hold back in front of Barnabas, who was his elder? … These examples show the difference between true lowliness and meekness and what is easily mistaken for it. That mistake is only the laziness or timidity of the natural heart, indulged against the leading of the Spirit of God.
The crowd's ranking then shaped the order of the two names in the account:
The account names Barnabas first, since Mercury was servant to Jupiter.
The healing was real, but the crowd filed it under their own beliefs instead of letting it lead them to the God who did it.
The miracle happened in front of pagans, who read the wonderful event in the light of their false beliefs. They would have held an idolatrous festival if the apostles had not protested. The apostles seized the chance to declare to them the true and living God, who is the Creator. The Lycaonians would have done just what Paul charges the pagans with doing in Romans 1:25, saying they "worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever."
Praise like this says more about the crowd than about the man.
Men will idolize you, perhaps; for God has lost His place with them, and it is easily given to another. They will destroy their idol too, just as easily. Yet this is the creature, man, and God has sent him a message of infinite grace.
The pull toward this did not die out with Lystra's altars.
It is too obvious to need mentioning how much of this idolizing goes on today. Men who claim to be servants of the Lord seek and love the honour and praise of men. Seeking honour from men and delighting in the applause of the "religious world" is a deadly thing. It dishonours Christ, to whom all honour and glory belong.
- Named. Barnabas got Zeus for his presence, Paul got Hermes for his speaking. The crowd judged the messengers by looks and words.
- Explained. A local legend of gods visiting in human form was already in the air, so sacrifice followed as a matter of course.
- Ordered. Paul led in speech and Barnabas gave way. True lowliness uses a gift; it does not smother it.
- Misread. The crowd forced a real miracle into its own false beliefs and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator.
- Reversed. The crowd that crowns a man will destroy him just as easily, so loving the praise of men is deadly.
And the priest of Jupiter who was before the city, having brought bulls and garlands to the gates, would have done sacrifice along with the crowds.
At Lystra an amazing miracle has just been done. The crowd has decided that gods have come down in human form, and now the priest of Zeus arrives with oxen and garlands, ready to sacrifice. It raises two questions. Why did a real work of God end in worship aimed at the wrong object? And what should a servant of God do when the honour lands on him?
Some translations call this god Jupiter; the name in the Greek text is Zeus. He was the chief god of Greek and Roman worship.
Zeus. Supreme god of Greece and Rome, though the religious ideas of the two nations were quite different. At Lystra the pagan inhabitants thought that Barnabas was Jupiter in human form.
Two things explain how fast it all moved: an old story about gods visiting that region, and a temple standing right outside the city.
It was all the more natural that pagans should draw the conclusion the Lycaonians drew. A little while before, a Latin poet (Ovid) of the age of Augustus had spread a legend. It said that these very gods had once been received as guests in a part of Asia Minor... The scene is set before us vividly, as usual. There is the crowd, and the priest of Zeus, whose temple, or statue, stood before the city. The oxen and garlands are all brought ready to the gates — probably the gates of the house or courtyard where the apostles were staying.
The miracle should have made the people listen. Instead they organised a ceremony, and one writer notes the inconsistency.
An amazing miracle of this kind should certainly have drawn people's attention to the message that Paul brought. But Satan cleverly used it to deceive the superstitious residents of the city. They took up the idolatrous idea that Paul and Barnabas were gods come down in human form. Rather than listening to them, they wanted to worship them... If these men really were gods, why were they not quiet, wanting to listen to them? An idolatrous priest of Jupiter is ready at once to offer sacrifices to them.
The priest, the animals and the garlands were ready before anyone asked for them. The human heart resists holiness, yet it never stops making something to bow to.
By nature the same heart is deeply set against holiness and at the same time built for religious observance. Man has an inborn, settled sense that he is not enough in himself. That sense makes him unable to stand simply independent of some power mightier than himself. A god, in some shape, is a natural necessity of man. His natural desire, in his first falling away from truth, is a god after his own heart.
The two men refused the honour on the spot. Their reaction was physical, and the message they put in its place did not start with salvation.
The priest of Jupiter wants to offer sacrifice along with the people. The apostles, Barnabas and Paul, are grieved at heart when they see what the people intend. Far from wanting any honour for themselves, they tear their clothes and run in among the crowd to stop them. They announce the one true God — not, here, salvation.
The garlands are gone; the offer of honour to a preacher is not. One writer names where it still lands — the applause of religious people.
No doubt the enemy was lurking behind this, but the grace of God gave the apostles power to act as they did. There is so much of this kind of idolizing today. Men who claim to be servants of the Lord seek and love the honour and praise of men. It is too obvious to need saying. Seeking honour from men and delighting in the applause of the "religious world" is a deadly thing. It dishonours Christ, to whom all honour and glory belong.
The crowd did not stay in that mood for long, and one writer turns the reversal into a warning.
At Lystra we see how fickle the crowd is. They soon stone the man they would at first have worshipped as a god. Men will idolize 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.
- Ready-made honour. A temple stood outside the city, and a legend was already going around. So oxen and garlands reached the gates the moment the crowd made up its mind.
- Honour misdirected. The miracle should have won them as listeners. Instead it won them as worshippers of the wrong object, and they never listened to the message.
- Honour explained. The heart that avoids holiness is still built for religious observance. Man needs a god of some kind, and he prefers one made to his own taste.
- Honour refused. The apostles were grieved, not flattered. They tore their clothes, ran into the crowd, and pointed people to the one true God.
- Honour reversed. The crowd that would have sacrificed to Paul soon stoned him. Whoever takes the crowd's worship has also taken its stones.
But the apostles Barnabas and Paul, having heard [it], rent their garments, and rushed out to the crowd, crying
The crowd at Lystra had just watched a lame man walk, and drew the wrong conclusion: the gods had come down. Two preachers then tore their own clothes to stop the crowd worshipping them.
The healing should have made the crowd listen to the message. Instead they stared at the messengers. One writer points to who stood behind that switch.
A miracle like this ought to have drawn people's attention to the message Paul brought. But Satan used this to deceive the superstitious people of the city. They took up the idolatrous idea that Paul and Barnabas were gods who had come down in human form. They did not listen. They wanted to worship them, and even named Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury. Mere excitement carries men to foolish lengths. If it was true that these men were gods, why were they not quiet, desiring to listen to them?
Their answer was not only in words. What they did with their clothes made the point too.
Paul and Barnabas wanted nothing to do with that. They used all their powers of persuasion to clear this deception out of the people's minds. They even tore their clothes — hardly what heathen gods would do — and cried out loudly against any worship of themselves.
They may have been resting in their lodgings when the news reached them.
The apostles heard of the plan and stopped it at once. They tore their garments and rushed, or sprang, out — perhaps from the lodgings they had gone back to. Now among the people gathered with the priest and the sacrificial animals, they spoke to them. The homage they declined, and instead of receiving a sacrifice they would teach the crowd.
They refused the honour outright, and still spoke to the people with respect.
On the other hand, Barnabas and Paul rejected this God-dishonouring honour with anger and deep earnestness. (They are named in that order here, in keeping with the place assigned to them.) They sprang forth with garments torn, protesting loudly. Their words were no less uncompromising though courteous.
This refusal was not a one-off. The power was God's, and the honour was never the worker's.
Closely connected with this is a further point. These miracles were kept apart from any honour attached to the persons who performed them. Of course they attested the divine character of their ministry. But they were wholly a testimony to the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all He taught... As we have seen, there was no personal relief and no self-advancement. They sought no glory for themselves or for their company. So Paul and Barnabas; Acts 14:14.
The same refusal shows up three times in Scripture.
Cornelius would have worshipped him, but Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man." Compare this with the anger of Paul and Barnabas when the men of Lystra wanted to offer them sacrifice (Acts 14:14). Compare it also with the words of the angel in Revelation, whom John was ready to worship (Rev. 22:9). These servants knew their place, and what was due to the Lord.
Their refusal points somewhere else too. These men would not take worship. Jesus took it from Thomas.
These were true men. They would not let anyone think that they were more than men. Nor would they, even for a moment, accept adoration, which was God's alone. These incidents in the lives of His servants teach us by inference that Jesus was God when He accepted the adoration of Thomas. If not, what was He?
The verse calls both men apostles. One writer insists the title carries its full weight here.
It would wrong Paul and Barnabas to rank them as mere messengers of the churches, sent with supplies for poor saints. Scripture calls them "the apostles" twice over — not Paul only but Barnabas also — in the same chapter that records their choice of elders. (See Acts 14:4, 14, 23.)
- Miracle. God's power at Lystra should have sent people to the message. Instead the crowd planned to sacrifice to the messengers.
- Misreading. Excitement carried the crowd to foolish lengths. If these men were gods, why not stay quiet and listen?
- Refusal. Torn clothes and a rush into the crowd were the argument itself: gods do not tear their own garments.
- Redirection. These miracles added no glory to the men who worked them. They testified to Christ alone.
- Result. Peter, these two, and an angel all refused worship. Jesus accepted it — so He is God.
and saying, Men, why do ye these things? *We* also are men of like passions with you, preaching to you to turn from these vanities to the living God, who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things in them;
A crowd at Lystra took Paul and Barnabas for gods and brought animals to sacrifice to them. The two men tore their clothes and answered with one of the shortest sermons in the Bible: we are only men, and God made everything.
Twice in Acts, people gave a man the honour that belongs to God alone. Both times he stopped them on the spot. One writer sets those two refusals beside a third scene: Jesus accepting worship from His disciple Thomas.
It is remarkable that the Spirit of God has put it on record. Men offered homage to both Peter and Paul, and both stopped it at once and with force. "Stand up; I too am a man," was Peter's command to Cornelius when that centurion fell at his feet (Acts 10:26). The people of Lystra brought sacrifices to offer to Barnabas and Paul. The two men tore their clothes and ran in among the people, crying out, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you." These were true men. They would not allow anyone to think they were more than men. And they would not accept for a moment adoration that belonged to God alone. These incidents in the lives of His servants teach us, by inference, that Jesus was God when He accepted the adoration of Thomas. If not, what was He?
The protest was not polite embarrassment. One writer weighs both its heat and its manners.
On the other hand, Barnabas and Paul rejected this honour that dishonoured God, with anger and deep earnestness. They sprang forward with torn clothes and loud protest. Their words were courteous, but no less uncompromising.
The word behind "turn" is the ordinary word for conversion, and it has two halves — a leaving and an arriving.
At its root the word means "to turn towards," "to turn round," "to turn about." So when it is applied to people, it includes "turning from" their evil ways and sins, and "turning to" God. An example or two will make this clear. Paul and Barnabas urged the people of Lystra to "turn from these vain things to a living God" (Acts 14:15). Paul's mission was to turn men "from darkness to light" (Acts 26:18). The Thessalonians are said to have "turned to God from idols" (1 Thess. 1:9). In the full sense of Scripture, then, conversion means nothing less than the change from the state of a sinner to that of a Christian.
The title "living God" is itself an argument.
To the living God He directed attention. That speaks of one, and only one, divine Being. There are not two living Gods. Israel's fathers had understood what this title meant. It marked out their God, the Lord Jehovah, as wholly different from the idols of the nations. Such had no life. "They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk" (Psalm 115:5-7).
Paul later opened much the same way in Athens. The Lycaonian crowd at Lystra and the educated Athenians were worlds apart, but their need was the same.
But the witnesses of the Lord Jesus are jealous for a living and true God. They refuse to let a sinful personal influence grow at His expense... In substance it was an appeal much like what Paul afterwards spoke to the Athenians on the Areopagus. How degrading pagan religion is! The ignorant Lycaonian and the refined Athenian needed the same message. They are set to spell the alphabet of creation.
Why were Paul and Barnabas in Lystra at all, and why did Paul preach a God these people had never served?
He and Barnabas had come to Lystra to make Him known, because God wants His creatures to know His mind. That was why they were there. They were to turn from idols and acknowledge the living God... They did not know this God and had never served Him. Yet year after year He was thinking of them, caring for them, and providing for them. No pagan religion would have taught them that. It was new teaching indeed. There Paul stopped. Had he missed a chance to present the gospel? We believe not. He was meeting those ignorant pagans on ground they could all understand.
- Refuse. A true servant hands the glory back. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes rather than take one moment of the worship owed to God.
- Confess. "We also are men" draws the line. Servants refused worship; the Lord Jesus accepted it, and that tells us who He is.
- Turn. Conversion has two halves in this one verse: turning from the vain things, and turning to the living God.
- Living. Idols have mouths, eyes and hands that do nothing. There is one living God, and He made heaven, earth and sea.
- Begin. With people who know nothing of the Bible, Paul starts at creation and at kindness they have already received. Athens later heard the same alphabet.
who in the past generations suffered all the nations to go in their own ways,
Paul and Barnabas are at Lystra. A crippled man has just been healed, and the crowd is sure that gods have come down in human form. The apostles tear their clothes and rush in to stop the sacrifice. Their answer to that crowd holds a startling summary of world history: for long ages God let the nations go their own way. Was He indifferent to them? And what has changed now?
These words look back a long way. Commentators point to the call of Abraham as the moment the split began.
The call of Abram marks a solemn turning point in the history of the world... God turned away from a world that had abandoned Him and chose one man to become the father of a people. The nations around them served empty lies. This people's own glory was to know and worship the true and only God. Meanwhile He left the other nations to their own dishonoured way. (Acts 14:16)
Paul pays no compliment to the religion he found at Lystra. Look at the gods the crowd wanted to honour.
How different this is from the vileness of a Jupiter or a Mercury — one god given to corruption and self-will, the other given to stealing! Was this the best religion and morality the pagans had, making gods just like themselves? Such a being is certainly not the true God. Who can deny that it was all empty, even in the minds of the most civilized and refined of the Gentiles?
God let the nations go, but He did not abandon them. One writer sets what God gave then beside what He sends now.
Who could deny that in the generations gone by He allowed the nations to go on in their own ways? Yet He had shown active goodness to every land and every age. His generous gifts from heaven cover the otherwise barren earth with every good thing for man's life and heart. So when He now sends the gospel about His Son, is that not fully in keeping with the same goodness?
God's witness leaves people answerable for what they received. One writer turns the usual question about the heathen back on the person asking it.
The Christian world is used to debating what divine justice holds for the poor heathen. God will certainly judge them by the witness they received, the witness through which they could have known Him (Acts 14:15-17). But we never hear the Christian world asking about the fate awaiting itself.
The whole force of the verse lies in its past tense. Those generations ended, and God's dealing with the nations changed.
Here the apostle keeps to one point. God did not bring judgment on those times of terrible and inexcusable ignorance. In His goodness He overlooked the past, and now He calls people to repentance... The rejected Christ has now died as propitiation and has been raised. He Himself marks the change that has come: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations"; "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Paul did not use one fixed speech. He matched his opening to the people in front of him.
So at Lystra, among ignorant pagans, we find him speaking of the goodness of the living God in giving men fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:15-17). At Athens, among learned pagans, we hear him insisting on the oneness and supremacy of the Creator... With pagans he felt he had to begin at the very lowest rung of the ladder of truth.
- Left — at the call of Abraham, God chose one family to keep the knowledge of Himself. He let the other nations follow their own dishonoured way.
- Witnessed — leaving was not abandoning. Rain and fruitful seasons carried His witness through every land and age.
- Accountable — God judges people by the light they were given. The harder question is not about the heathen, but about those who have the gospel and neglect it.
- Called — those past generations are over. The risen Christ has sent the message to all nations, and what God once overlooked He now meets with a call to repentance.
- Reached — with ignorant pagans Paul began on the lowest rung of the ladder: creation and daily bread. He fitted his starting point to his hearers.
though indeed he did not leave himself without witness, doing good, and giving to you from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.
A crowd at Lystra had just mistaken Paul and Barnabas for gods, and the two men answered by pointing to rain, harvests and full tables. How far does daily provision count as a message from God, and what does it leave people answerable for?
Paul had no fixed sermon he repeated everywhere. He shaped what he said to the people in front of him.
What is notable, especially for all those engaged in the work of the Lord, is the variety in the character of the apostolic addresses. There was no such stiffness as we often find in preaching today. What monotony! What sameness of routine, no matter who is listening! In Scripture we find people dealt with as they were, with the appeal to conscience that suited their state. The discourse in the synagogue was founded on the Jewish Scriptures. Here, to these men of Lycaonia, there is no reference to the Old Testament at all. He points plainly to what everyone sees and knows: the heavens above them, the seasons that God has assigned from of old, and the constant supply of good things He provides in nature. Even the hardest heart can hardly miss it.
What Paul told them about God was new, though the evidence had arrived every year of their lives.
They owed the God he preached their rain from heaven, and the fruitful seasons which had so often gladdened their hearts. A God they did not know, and had never served, was thinking of them year after year, caring for them and providing for them. No religion in the heathen world would have taught them that.
That God fills hearts with gladness overturns the whole picture of the gods the Lystrans worshipped.
That the gods are envious of human gladness was the lie and curse of paganism. Not such is He who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them. Who could deny that in past generations He let the nations go their own way? He had shown active goodness to all lands and all times. His generous gifts from heaven cover the otherwise barren earth with every good thing for man's life and heart. So when He sent the gospel concerning His Son, was that not fully in keeping with such goodness?
The witness is not one event but a rhythm.
As Creator and Governor of the universe, God delights to lavish His gifts on people, despite their unworthiness and ingratitude. "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made" (Ps. 145:9)... The seasons come and go with a regularity that stands as lasting evidence of God's gracious interest in His creatures.
One writer sets this open care beside a hidden way God works.
We may consider the providence of God in two ways. In the first, people have the public spectacle before their eyes every day. This providence is on unmistakable display, as the apostle says here. The second providence is hidden in its ways and purpose. People can only recognise it by its final result.
The gifts had a purpose beyond the enjoyment they brought.
Still His goodness was meant, if it might be so, to lead them to repentance. And it is this goodness of His that the apostle refers to as God's perpetual witness in all times and lands.
When people did not answer that kindness, the fault lay in the human heart, not in a silent God.
He does not tell us that any poor heathen ever felt after God like a blind man groping in the dark. But He does let us know why. If it did not happen, the only cause was the deep-rooted hostility of the human heart towards God. By the abundant expression of His goodness He was drawing him to seek Him. By nature people think God is hard, severe and demanding. Even by His providence He convicts everyone of how wicked and wilful those thoughts are. He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
The verse still tests us, down to the meal table.
Has anyone acknowledged His hand? How many homes in this so-called Christian England gave thanks at the meal table today? The old-fashioned "grace" is dying out, in keeping with the growing unbelief of our time. If people fail to own God in His lesser gifts, what is their attitude towards the immense gift of His Son?
- Witness — God has never gone silent. Rain, harvests and full hearts are His testimony in every land and age.
- Goodness — the witness is not power on display but active kindness. It contradicts the idea of gods who resent human happiness.
- Reach — this testimony is public and daily, open to anyone. God's other work stays hidden until its final result.
- Aim — the kindness was meant to lead people to repentance. Where it failed, the fault lay in a heart hostile to God, not in a lack of evidence.
- Response — if we will not thank God for rain and food, His smaller gifts, we are unlikely to value His greatest one, His Son.
And saying these things, they with difficulty kept the crowds from sacrificing to them.
In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas healed a man who had been lame from birth, and the crowd decided that gods had come down as men. A priest came to sacrifice to them, and the word "scarcely" carries the verse: their preaching only just held the crowd back.
A full act of pagan worship was already underway. The two men broke into the middle of it.
The people, astonished by the miracle, call Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. Barnabas (as Mercury was servant to Jupiter) is mentioned first in the narrative. The priest of Jupiter desires to do sacrifice with the people. Barnabas and Paul are distressed in heart when they see what the people intend. Far from wanting any honour for themselves, they tear their clothes, run in among the crowd to stop them, and announce the one true God.
The word "scarcely" measures something in the human heart. One writer sees the same instinct alive in the wider Christian world.
The idolatry of the heart is so deep-rooted that the Lord's servants could hardly stop the crowds from sacrificing to them (v. 18). How awful to think that most of Christendom pays divine honours to men who share the same nature as themselves! ... For the truth that marks this time is oneness — not only one God, but one true Mediator. So the enemy's special attack is not to honour more gods than the living God. It is to set up other mediators or intercessors, such as the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints.
Refusing that worship took power the apostles did not have in themselves. The same love of praise still tempts God's servants today.
The enemy lurked behind this, no doubt, but the grace of God gave the apostles the power to act as they did. So much of this idolizing goes on today. Men who claim to be the Lord's servants seek and love the honour and praise of men. It is too obvious to need saying. Seeking honour from men and delighting in the applause of the "religious world" is a deadly thing. It dishonours Christ, to whom all honour and glory is due.
Having refused the sacrifice, they had to give the crowd something true instead. Paul starts with the rain and the crops these Lycaonians of Lystra already knew.
In substance it was the same appeal Paul later made to the Athenians on the Areopagus. How degrading pagan religion is! The ignorant Lycaonian and the cultured Athenian needed the same kind of message. Paul sets them both to spell out the alphabet of creation. Here, though, the theme is not so much the unity of God, or man's true and close relationship to Him set against his absurd worship of idols and his god-making. It is God's active goodness shown to the Lycaonians in rains and fruitful seasons, and in the plenty of food and gladness these brought.
Did Paul miss his chance by stopping there?
There Paul stopped. Had he missed an opportunity to present the gospel? We believe not. He was meeting those ignorant pagans on ground they could all understand — the blessings they had enjoyed as creatures. He was acting in the spirit of the Master, who when on earth spoke to the crowd as they were able to hear it (Mark 4:33). So here Paul dwelt on the goodness of God, showing His desire to do His creatures good by filling their hearts with food and gladness. To quote Old Testament scripture on this occasion would have been out of place. What did these Lycaonians know of a written revelation from God?
That same crowd did not stay friendly for long.
At Lystra we see how fickle the crowd is: they soon stone the man they would at first have worshipped as a god. Men will idolize you, perhaps; for God has lost His place with them, and it is easily given to another. They will destroy their idol too, just as easily. This is the creature, man — and yet God has sent him a message of infinite grace. It is the story of a work more wonderful than anything that ever blessed the ears that hear it. But over this he has the greatest difficulty! What but the power of the Spirit could one trust to make way for the gospel in a world like this?
- Scarcely. A whole sermon only just stopped one sacrifice. That shows how deep-rooted the idolatry of the heart is.
- Refused. Barnabas and Paul tore their clothes rather than take honour that belonged to God. Loving the applause of the religious world is a deadly thing.
- Alphabet. Quoting Scripture would have been out of place here. So Paul set the crowd to spell the alphabet of creation: rain, harvests, food and gladness, all proof of God's active goodness.
- Mediators. The same instinct still works today. It sets up other mediators or intercessors — the Virgin Mary, angels, saints — beside the one true Mediator.
- Fickle. The same crowd that would have worshipped Paul soon stoned him. Men idolize easily and destroy their idol just as easily. Only the Spirit's power makes way for the gospel.
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.
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.