November 2, 2014
By: Tom Lowe
Title: Lystra-A Lame Man Healed & the
Reaction (14:8-20a) Part 1
Part 1: A Lame Man Healed (8-10)
Part 2: Paul and Barnabas Paid Homage (11-13)
Part 3: Paul and Barnabas Dismayed (14-18)
Part 4: Paul and Barnabas Rejected (19-20a)
Scripture (Acts 14:8-10; KJV) Part 1
8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
Introduction
The principal episode of chapter 14 takes place in Lystra. It begins with Paul healing a cripple there (Part 1: vs. 8-10). This caused a remarkable reaction from the native Lystrans, who attempted to worship the apostles as gods (Part 2: vs. 11-13). The attempted homage of the populous prompted a strong protest from Paul and Barnabas, which was mainly expressed in a brief sermon (Part 3: vs. 14-18). Ironically, the Lystran ministry was concluded when the same crowd who tried to worship Paul and Barnabas turned against Paul and tried to stone him to death (Part 4: vs. 19-20a).
Commentary
Lystra was located in the hill country of the Roman province of Galatia and surrounded by mountains, it was a small country town in Paul’s day. Its main significance was as a Roman military post, and for that reason it was given the status of a colony in 6 b.c. A Roman military road connected it with the other colony city in the region, Pisidian Antioch, 100 miles or so to the northwest; it was about eighteen miles southwest of Iconium. Thiswas the first of three visits Paul made to this city, and what an eventful visit it was! On his second missionary journey, Paul enlisted Timothy in Lystra (16:1-5); and he made a visit to the new church in Lystra on his third journey as well (18:23).
As we have seen, Paul and Barnabas had the gifts of an apostle, the sign gifts. They came into these places without any New Testament with the message of the gospel. What were there credentials? How could they prove their message was from God? The sign gifts were their credentials—they needed them. Today we have the entire Bible, and what people need today is to study this Bible and to learn what it has to say. If only we could get other people to do that!
In the first century the apostles performed miracles, and men got their eyes on the apostles. So it was necessary to get their eyes off the apostles and turn them to the Book which presents the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to get your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. All these other men you mention are not even going to enter into the picture when you stand before Jesus someday. The only question will be your personal relationship to Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the Word of God. Go to the Word of God! The people of Lystra were looking to Paul and Barnabas.
The clause, “The same heard Paul speak” refers to ordinary conversation, though it can refer to formal speaking. It is likely that Paul was simply conversing with some of the citizens in the “open air” marketplace, telling them about Jesus (of His miracles of healing and his present power), and the lame man overheard what he said. The Word produced faith—“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)—and faith brought healing.
The dire circumstances of this unfortunate crippled man are seen in the repeated idea: “impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, never had walked.” Apparently there was no Jewish synagogue in Lystra, so God used a different thrust, the healing of this helpless cripple, to bring the Gospel to these people. For the first time, Paul and Barnabas witnessed exclusively to Gentiles. It was not easy, because there were major communication problems.
The healing of the lame man at the temple of Zeus just outside the city, has many features in common with Peter’s healing of Aeneas (9:32-35) and particularly with his healing the lame man at the temple gate (3:2-10). Like the latter, this man had been lame from his birth, the apostle perceived that he registered enough faith to be cured, and commanded him to stand up on his feet. Also like the man at the Beautiful Gate, this man leaped up and walked about when he was healed. Luke does not call attention to the similarities of the two healings, although the only difference between them is that Paul saw that the man had faith. While Luke does not say that the lame man whom Peter healed had faith when the act was performed, he inserts the faith of the cripple in Peter’s speech—“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (Acts 3:16).Had their lameness been caused by disease or accident, the cure might have been attributed to a sudden change in their health. As it was, the cure was obviously miraculous. The similarities between the two cases shows Paul was equal to Peter in his apostleship.
There are differences in the two narratives. In this instance the man showed a glimmer of faith (v. 9)[1]. Perhaps it was in response to Paul’s speaking; he may well have been bearing testimony to the Gospel. In any event, the healing is told with the utmost brevity. Paul directed him to stand, because of what he saw in his face. He saw “that he had faith to be healed;” and the man immediately jumped to his feet and began to walk about. Two things are revealed in that story: the faith of the man created by the preacher; as he listened to the story of the risen Christ he applied that story to his own particular need; and a preacher determining faith by the face of his listener. Every preacher knows the man who listens, and who, looking through that preacher, sees the truth, grasps it, and begins to apply it; the light of it is in his eye, and eagerness is manifested in his face. There was a great and magnificent irregularity in Paul’s preaching. He dared to stop and say to the man: “Stand upright on thy feet.” Then the man leaped up and walked.
There is no mention of the name of Jesus or the power of God, but our study of Acts has provided sufficient examples by now to know that it is indeed through the divine power that the miracle was produced (3:16; 4:30; 9:34). The people at Lystra did not know that, and this ignorance led them to the wrong reaction.
[1] Faith is often connected to healings in the miracles of Jesus, usually noted by Jesus after the healing with the words “your faith hath made you whole” (Luke 7:50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42). With the lame man at the temple gate, there is no mention of faith in the healing story, but Peter did seem to refer to it in his subsequent sermon (Acts 3:16).
November 8, 2014
By: Tom Lowe
Title: Lystra-A Lame Man Healed & the
Reaction Part 2 (14:8-20a)
Part 1: A Lame Man Healed (8-10)
Part 2: Paul and Barnabas Paid Homage (11-13)
Part 3: Paul and Barnabas Dismayed (14-18)
Part 4: Paul and Barnabas Rejected (19-20a)
Scripture (Acts 14:11-13; KJV) Part 2
11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Introduction
There is a certain absurdity about this passage when compared to the coming of Christ. When Christ, the Son of God, appeared in the likeness of men, and did many miracles, men were so far from doing sacrifice to Him, that they made Him a sacrifice to their pride and malice; but Paul and Barnabas, upon working one miracle, were treated as gods.
Commentary
11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
The citizens of Lystra had witnessed a miracle—they saw the Apostle Paul heal a lame man who was well-known to them as he sat near the gates[1] of the Temple of Zeus, just outside the city. God, supernaturally revealed to the apostle that the man had real faith to be healed. When Paul told him to stand upright on his feet, he leaped up and walked, much like the lame man healed by Peter at the Beautiful gate (Acts 3:1-10). Since the miracle had been performed openly, and since Paul had undoubtedly attracted considerable attention by speaking with a loud voice, the people were greatly impressed.
There was evidentially no Jewish synagogue in Lystra. There was at least one family of Jewish extractionthere, since Lystra was the home of Timothy and his Jewish mother—“He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek” (Acts 16.1). By and large, however, Lystra seems to have consisted primarily of Gentile pagans; and their reaction to the lame man’s healing reflects that background. “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men!” Miracles by themselves do not produce either conviction or faith. They must be accompanied by the Word: “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3). At this point Paul and Barnabas had no inkling of what was transpiring because in their excitement the people fell into their own native Lycaonian[2] dialect[3] (Though they couldn’t understand their words, their actions may have been clear enough.). Their eyes were on Paul and Barnabas. They were really excited about them. This was the first time Paul and Barnabas witnessed almost exclusively to Gentiles.
12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
This was a superstitious crowd that interpreted events in light of their own mythology. The citizens of Lystra who had witnessed the miracles assumed Paul and Barnabas were gods who had come down to visit them in the likeness of men, and they thought they knew which gods they were. They were ready to worship them and probably started with Paul. Since he was doing most of the speaking, he must be “Mercurius[4]” (also called Hermes and Mercury), the messenger of the gods. Barnabas was dubbed Jupiter (Zeus), the chief of the gods. Just why Barnabas received this honor Luke did not specify. Perhaps it was because of an ancient legend found in their region that Zeus and Hermes had once descended to earth in human form.
It was customary in the Hellenistic age for people in various countries to change the names of their gods to conform to the Greek pantheon[5]. Instead of Zeus and Hermes, the KJV gives Jupiter and Mercurius, the Roman equivalent of the Greek gods.
13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Paul and Barnabas did begin to sense that something was in the works when the priest of Jupiter (the patron deity of the city) arrived on the scene with bulls for sacrifice that had been decorated with garlands[6] and was about to sacrifice them to Paul and Barnabas, for he too became convinced that a divine visitation had taken place. This was a great opportunity for the priest of Jupiter to become very important and lead the people in honoring their God. The temple evidentially stood just outside the gates of the city, and it is unclear whether the intended sacrifice was to take place at the city gates or before the gates of the temple. The latter would be the more normal procedure. The sacrifice was to be anything but routine, since the victims were garlanded with festive woolen wraths. Only the best for visiting gods! The action of the priest and hearing someone talking in Greek made the apostle fully aware of what was taking place.
Something that stands out here is how very fickle these people are. Does it remind you of someone else? In America it is a baseball player one year, then a politician, then a football star, then another politician. By the following year they are all forgotten, and it is someone else new. It is the same way with the preachers. One can preach the Word of God and everyone will acclaim him as a wonderful preacher. Then the next day they are ready to crucify him. Paul and Barnabas had the same experience in Lystra. The same crowd that is ready to worship them will soon stone Paul and drag him from the city supposing he is dead.
Consider the perils threatening these men. Perhaps the gravest peril took place in Lystra when men suggested that they should worship them. That is the supreme peril to the Christian worker—to center their spiritual attention, not on Christ, but on His servant. It would have been so easy for Paul and Barnabas to gain power and notoriety; to accept their worship and avoid the persecution and the stones. This is the peril of the missionary. When men bring garlands to worship the missionary, when men suggest his deification, he is in extreme danger. If you would help the missionary, you should pray that he would never accept the garland or the worship of men. This was one of the most sinister times the apostle ever faced, but I don’t believe Paul trembled at any time. He was not seduced by the prospect of gaining power and notoriety because he was living in close fellowship with his Lord.
[1] The gates are either those of the temple or, more probably, of the town, where perhaps the healing of the lame man had taken place, the city gate being the favorite place for crippled beggars to set. The priests would hasten to do sacrifice at the site of the miracle.
[2] Lycaonian was an isolated hill-country dialect, and there are few literary remains of it. Centuries of Hellenistic influence in their area would have given them knowledge of Greek, and they would have had no difficulty in understanding Paul’s koine. As residents of a Roman colony they may have had some familiarity with Latin as well.
[3] Much of the Mediterranean world was bilingual, the people speaking the general language, Greek, and also their native dialect.
[4] "The Roman god Mercury," originally a god of tradesmen and thieves. Later he was associated with Greek Hermes, the god of oratory and the inventor of speech.
[5] The gods of a particular mythology considered collectively
[6] Woolen wreaths placed on the sacrificial animals.
November 16, 2014
By: Tom Lowe
Title: Lystra-A Lame Man Healed & the
Reaction Part 3 (14:8-20a)
Part 1: A Lame Man Healed (8-10)
Part 2: Paul and Barnabas Paid Homage (11-13)
Part 3: Paul and Barnabas Dismayed (14-18)
Part 4: Paul and Barnabas Rejected (19-20a)
Scripture (Acts 14:14-18; KJV) Part 3
14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Introduction
Paul’s sermon in Lystra is interesting because of the particular framework of circumstances within which it is set. Paul had healed a lame man. There was nothing unusual about that, for wherever the Gospel went there were similar signs of God’s power to restore the minds and bodies of the people who heard it. The unusual thing in this case was the response of the people. When they saw Paul heal the lame man they thought the gods had come down to earth. That excited the crowd and they promptly decided to worship them; the priests brought cattle to sacrifice and the people paid homage to Paul and Barnabas.
Commentary
14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
At first Barnabas and Paul did not realize what the crowd was up to, because they didn’t understand the Lycaonian language; but it didn’t take long until the two apostles were fully aware of what was taking place—they wanted to worship them as gods. They were not only startled and amazed that these people want to worship them, but they are completely shocked, so they rushed into the crowd, tearing apart their garments and shouting, “We are human beings like you are (v. 15)!” You will remember that Peter had to say the same thing to Cornelius when Cornelius bowed down to worship him. The tearing of one’s clothes is a gesture found elsewhere in the Bible. It could dramatize a state of mourning (Genesis 37:29, 34), express extreme distress (Joshua 7:6), or protest a perceived blasphemy (Mark 14:63). Here the gesture expressed ardent protest and was designed to put a stop to the intended sacrifice. How easy it would have been to accept this worship and try to use the honor as a basis for teaching the people the truth, but that is not the way God’s true servants minister: “THEREFORE SEEING WE HAVE THIS MINISTRY, AS WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY, WE FAINT NOT; BUT HAVE RENOUNCED THE HIDDEN THINGS OF DISHONESTY, NOT WALKING IN CRAFTINESS, NOR HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY; BUT BY MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH COMMENDING OURSELVES TO EVERY MAN'S CONSCIENCE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD” (2 CORINTHIANS 4:1, 2; also see 1 Thessalonians 2:1-5). Paul and Barnabas opposed what they were doing and boldly told the people that the gods of Lystra were “vanities[1] (v. 15).”
Certainly none of us would bow down to worship any man. A Christian is not to be so awed and submissive that he gets down to lick the boots of anyone. Unfortunately, even in Christian work we find some people who want others to bow to them. How tragic that is.
15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
“We also are men of like passions (feelings) with you,” they shouted. They were not about to be a part of such a blasphemous act. Herod Antipas had himself been given homage as a god, and he faired none to well for failing to deny it (Acts 12:22, 23). It seems to be human nature to want gods that can be seen and touched, gods in the likeness of men. “Holy men” in every age yield to the temptation to be honored and adored. Not so with Paul and Barnabas. They had the natural unaffected humility of all great men. The thought that ignorant people might be so misled as to take them for gods was so disgusting to them that before they said anything else, they made it unmistakably clear that they were human beings, no less and certainly no more. Ministers should follow the example of the apostles and take warning from Herod.
One of the greatest dangers to which people in public life (actors and actresses, star athletes and politicians, entertainers and the very wealthy and influential) are exposed is the adulation of people whose minds are too thin to think deeply and who like to think that their heroes are gods. Most men in such positions know the emptiness of the flattery, but at the same time enjoy it enough to accept it and finally lose the ability to thrust it from them as a dangerous and poisonous thing. It is the religion of hero worship. It takes important things and exalts them to the place of God, whereas the Christian religion is the service of the God who emptied Himself so that He might become like one of us.
Once they had gotten the crowd’s attention, they explained their protest in the form of a minisermon (vs. 15-18). It is the first sermon in Acts to a purely pagan group, which believed in many gods, and had no knowledge whatever of the God of Christians and Jews. Because the crowd was pagan and had no knowledge of the Old Testament, Paul adjusted his message to fit the audience. By contrast, the first of Paul’s messages demonstrated how he preached to those well acquainted with the Old Testament. In Lystra, the apostles had to start at the very beginning, not with the coming of Christ but with the basic theological assumption of monotheism—that there is one God: “HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE” (DEUTERONOMY 6:4). As such the sermon has its parallel in Paul’s address to the Areopagus[2] (Acts 17:22-31), and in many ways the address to the Athenians is the best commentary on the sermon at Lystra. The text reads almost as if the sermon was delivered by both apostles, but it is probably a fair assumption that Paul was the spokesman on this occasion as well: “BARNABAS THEY CALLED ZEUS, AND PAUL THEY CALLED HERMES BECAUSE HE WAS THE CHIEF SPEAKER” (ACTS 14:12).
Paul’s introduction had to do with the vanity of their worship. Any religion is pretty empty that would venerate men as gods. The pagan polytheism is vanity, futility, emptiness, worthlessness, idolatrous worship of gods who were nongods (Jeremiah 2:5; Romans 1:21-23). Paul exhorted them to abandon this worship and turn to the one true and living God, the source of all that truly lives. This was the main theme of the sermon—the “living God”; one of the most glorious and distinctive of all the names of God.
First, He is creator of all life, all that dwells on earth and in the seas and in the skies. Paul was perhaps quoting from Psalm 146:6, but it is in any event the threefold division of creation familiar from the Old Testament: “FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM. . . .” (EXODUS 20:11a; see also Acts 4:24; 17:24). Paul’s second point deals with God’s patience and mercy. In former generations God allowed the Gentiles to go their own way (v. 16). The implication is that then their deeds were done in ignorance and to that extent they were not held accountable for them: “IN THE PAST GOD OVERLOOKED SUCH IGNORANCE, BUT NOW HE COMMANDS ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE TO REPENT” (ACTS 17:30a). Then they had had no revelation; now they did. Then they had not known the true God. Now Paul was revealing Him to them. Yet even in the past God had not left Himself without a witness. He had revealed Himself in His works of natural providence[3]. There was not one spot on the face of the earth, according to Paul, where God has not left some sign of His presence.
Paul said nothing which any good Jew might not have said. The reason for it is obvious. The people who hailed Paul and Barnabas as gods had no real knowledge of God. Their idea of God was a childlike idea. The thing that impressed them most was the sight of two men who did something that they could not do. In their minds the only explanation was that these two men were gods, and they were prepared to put them on pedestals for public veneration and worship. The man who could do the most tricks was to their way of thinking the most godlike. It was the unusual and extraordinary which was the proof of God’s power.
16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Paul’s message was not based on the Old Testament, because this was a pagan Gentile audience. Had he started immediately to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it would be like preaching on “The Lord is my shepherd” to people who have never seen a sheep. He started, therefore, with the witness of God in creation (v. 15; also see Acts 17:22). He made it clear that there is but one God who is the living God, the giving God, and the forgiving God. And He has been patient with the sinning nations (see Acts 17:30); because of their ignorance, He has not judged them for their sins as they deserve. The implication is that now, when they can no longer plead ignorance, their only hope is in repentance: “AND THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE GOD WINKED AT; BUT NOW COMMANDETH ALL MEN EVERY WHERE TO REPENT” (ACTS 17:30); and Romans 3:25, “WHOM GOD HATH SET FORTH TO BE A PROPITIATION THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD, TO DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS THAT ARE PAST, THROUGH THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD.” This verse has also been translated, “THIS WAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF SHOWING GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE IN HIS DIVINE PATIENCE AND MERCY HE HAD DISREGARDED PREVIOUS SINS.”
Some interpret verse 16 to mean that God will not judge the heathen who lived before the Apostolic Age. However, verse 16 must be taken with verse 17. Up to the time of the church, God gave no direct revelations to the “nations” (that is, “Gentiles”) so they were responsible only for their reactions to the general revelation discernable in Creation (see Romans 1:18-20).
17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
This is Paul’s final point. God had been sending rain from heaven and causing the crops to flourish. Fruitful harvests had brought plenty of food to nourish the body and cheer the soul. Such ideas of divine providence would not have been strange to the ears of the Lystrans. They were often expressed by pagan writers in speaking of the benevolence of the gods. What was new to them was Paul’s message of the one God—that all the benevolence of nature came from the one and only God who was Himself the source of all creation. He is attempting to turn their attention to the living god who is the Creator. The rains and the seasons; the sun and the stars; food and the joy of life—these are the signs of God’s goodness. He wants to draw them away from their heathen, pagan idols and the mythology of the Greeks by telling them about the God who loves them and the Savior who died for them.
It has often been argued that Paul drew opposite conclusions from the argument from natural providence in the Lystran sermon as compared to Romans 1:18-25. That is true, but it is equally true that the two are in no way contradictory. The basic premise is identical in both: God has revealed Himself in His works and in creation. The contexts and hence the application of the premise are radically different in the two instances. In the speech at Lystra as well as the speech on the Areopagus (see Acts 17:24-28), Paul used the argument from creation to build bridges, to establish a point of identification with his pagan listeners. While they may never have heard of his God before, they had seen Him—in His providential works of nature. In Romans 1:18-25 Paul was seeking to establish humanities responsibility before a just God. The Gentiles could not claim that they had no responsibility on the grounds that they had received no revelation. They had received revelation in God’s providential works of creation and had perverted that revelation by worshipping nature itself, exchanging the Creator for the creation. The Gentiles were thus without excuse: “FOR SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD GOD'S INVISIBLE QUALITIES—HIS ETERNAL POWER AND DIVINE NATURE—HAVE BEEN CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD FROM WHAT HAS BEEN MADE, SO THAT MEN ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE” (ROMANS 1:20). We simply do not know how Paul would have moved to establish the Lystrans’ need to repent had he went on the discus repentance and judgment. His sermon was not completed at Lystra. The Areopagus’ speech gives an idea of how he would have proceeded. There the call to repentance is closely linked to the Gentile idolatry (see Acts 17:29), which is precisely the argument of Romans 1:18-25).
The expression “filling our hearts with food and gladness” is a figurative way of saying that in providing “food” for their bodily needs, “God” filled their “hearts with” the “gladness” that comes from the enjoyment of “food.”
18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Evidently Paul and Barnabas were cut short in their witness. It is anything but a complete exposition of the Gospel. Paul never got beyond the basic monotheistic message of one God. The heart of the Christian message from the beginning until now is what God has done in Christ. And yet in this sermon there is no mention of Christ at all—no Crucifixion, no Resurrection. Luke was well aware of its incompleteness. Verse 18 indicates that the sermon was cut off. The crowd was still intent on sacrificing to the apostles, so impressed had they been by the healing of the lame man. Even with his brief sermon on God, Paul could scarcely restrain them. The time in Lystra, however, was not over. There would be occasions in the future to introduce them to Christ. Just how he would have moved on to speak of Christ to a pagan Gentile group we will see in the Areopagus sermon of Chapter 17. It is, however, interesting to speculate on how he would have been treated if he had accepted the honor of divinity which the people were eager to bestow upon him. And it is to his everlasting credit that he had both the wits and the grace to see clearly the vanity of any temporary advantage that such an honor might have given him, and to walk steadily in the footsteps of his Lord and Master who set aside His divine entitlements so that He might taste human life even to its dregs and die the death of man, even the death of the Cross.
The message had its desired result. The people reluctantly desisted from their intention of sacrificing to these servants of the Lord.
[1] Something worthless, trivial, or pointless.
[2] The Areopagus or Mars Hill is a bare marble hill next to the Acropolis in Athens. It is especially popular with travelers for its connections with a speech made there by Paul the Apostle. The Areopagus, like most city-state institutions, continued to function in Roman times, and it was then that the Apostle Paul delivered his famous speech about the identity of "the Unknown God." (see Acts 17). Also the Supreme tribunal of ancient Athens was called “The Areopagus.” It was named for the Areopagus (“Ares' Hill”), where it met. It began as the king's council and had broad judicial powers. Its prestige fluctuated from the mid-6th to the mid-4th century BC, after which its power revived and continued under Roman domination, when it reacquired extensive administrative duties.
[3] God, in His omniscience directing nature, the universe, and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence.
November 24, 2014
By: Tom Lowe
Topic #IV. The Church Advancing to the End of the Earth (Acts 13-28)
Subtopic A: The First Missionary Journey (Acts 13, 14)
Title: Lystra: A Lame Man Healed & the
Reaction Part 4 (14:8-20a)
Part 1: A Lame Man Healed (8-10)
Part 2: Paul and Barnabas Paid Homage (11-13)
Part 3: Paul and Barnabas Dismayed (14-18)
Part 4: Paul and Barnabas Rejected (19-20a)
Scripture (Acts 14:19-20a; KJV) Part 4
19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
20a Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city:
Commentary
19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
20a Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city:
A little background at this point may help us understand what caused this incident. A report of the presence of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra came to the Jews in Iconium and Antioch. They were still jealous over the success of the Gospel among the Gentiles and decided to hound the heels of the apostles in their new area of work.
The apostles evidently worked for a while in Lystra, which is indicated by the presence of disciples (converts) there (20a). One would have thought that Lystra would be particularly receptive because of its mainly Gentile population and the fact that they had even thought the apostles were gods. But crowds are fickle, especially when their expectations are not fulfilled. Perhaps their regard for the apostles soured when they discovered that they were not bringing them the material blessings of the gods. In any event, they were turned against Paul and Barnabas by a group of Paul’s former Jewish opponents who had come from Iconium and Pisidian Antioch (100 miles from Lystra). In an act of mob violence, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, believing he was dead. One minute, Paul was a god to be worshipped; the next minute he was a criminal to be slain. Luke doesn’t indicate just why Barnabas was spared. He evidently was not present when Paul was attacked. Some of the disciples from Lystra came out of the town and encircled Paul’s body, perhaps indicating that they had some question about his death and desired to protect him from further harm. They were new believers, and this was a crisis situation for them. They were a minority, their leader had been stoned, and their future looked very bleak. But they stood by Paul! It is likely they joined hearts and prayed for him, and this is one reason why God raised him from the dead—suddenly Paul rose in their midst and was able to accompany them back into the city. The question has often been raised whether Paul was actually raised from death. Luke’s reference to their “supposing he had been dead” (v. 19) would indicate that this was not the case. A miracle did occur, however. God delivering His own from a frightful threat like this is a special testimony to His protective providence[1], and that is always a miracle. In his catalog of trials, Paul mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:25, “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.” The one time he had been stoned, probably refers to this incident at Lystra: “persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them” (2 Tim 3:11).
Allow me to ask you that question I mentioned at the beginning. I know that the predominant opinion is that Paul was not dead, but what do you think? I’ll tell you what I think. I think he was dead. Later Paul writes of the experience he had: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell” (2 Co. 12:2-4). Who was that man? It was Paul himself. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (2 Co. 12:7). I don’t think that crowd left him there half dead; I think they left him dead. There was every reason to think that Paul was dead; the violence that had been done to him was enough to kill him; he looked dead. I believe that God raised him from the dead.
Why would God permit this stoning? Galatians 6:7 tells us: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Paul reaped what he had sowed. He had ordered the stoning of Stephen. Maybe someone will object, saying, “But now he is converted.” Yes, but even after we are converted we will reap whatsoever we have sown. This is a law of nature as well as a law operating in our lives. We shall reap whatever we sow. Because Paul took part in the stoning of Stephen, years later the same thing happened to him.
[1] The foreseeing care and guidance of God over the creatures of the earth.
