Acts 14

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Acts 14 completes the first missionary journey. At Iconium Paul and Barnabas win many Jews and Greeks, divide the city, and flee a plot to stone them. At Lystra Paul heals a man lame from birth, and the crowd hails the two as Zeus and Hermes and prepares a sacrifice; the apostles tear their clothes and preach the living God who gives rain and fruitful seasons. Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrive, stone Paul, and drag him out of the city for dead; he gets up and leaves for Derbe the next day. On the return they strengthen the disciples, warn that the kingdom is entered through many hardships, and appoint elders. Back in Antioch they report that God has opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

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Acts 14 is the chapter where being an apostle nearly gets Paul killed twice, and where he keeps walking. In Iconium the preaching works so well that the city splits down the middle, and the two men leave one step ahead of a mob with stones. In Lystra, a backwoods town with its own dialect, Paul looks at a man who has never walked, sees faith in him, and shouts at him to stand, and the man jumps up. The crowd concludes that the old story has come true again: the gods have come down in human form, Barnabas is Zeus and the talkative Paul is Hermes, and the priest of Zeus is at the gate with bulls and garlands before the apostles understand a word. They tear their clothes and run into the crowd shouting that they are only men, and Paul preaches the only sermon in Acts to people who had never heard of Moses: the living God made heaven and earth, let the nations go their way for a while, and yet never left himself without a witness, because he sends rain and harvests and fills your hearts with food and gladness. They can barely stop the sacrifice. Then Jews arrive from the last two towns, turn the same crowd, and stone Paul, and drag him outside the walls as a corpse. The disciples gather around him. He gets up. He goes back into the city, and the next day walks on to Derbe. On the way home he revisits every town that tried to kill him, tells the new believers that this is what entering the kingdom costs, and appoints elders so that they will not be alone.

Passagens-chave

Acts 14:1-7 Acts 14:8-18 Acts 14:19-23 Acts 14:24-28 2 Timothy 3:10-12 Acts 17:22-31

Historical and literary context

The journey took place around AD 47 or 48 in the Roman province of Galatia, in what is now central Turkey. Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe were towns of Lycaonia, and the crowd's cry "in the Lycaonian language" explains why the apostles were slow to grasp what was happening. A local legend, preserved by the poet Ovid, told of Zeus and Hermes visiting the region in disguise and being welcomed only by an old couple, which is why the people were determined not to miss the gods a second time. Paul's speech at Lystra is the first in Acts to a purely pagan audience and appeals to creation and providence rather than Scripture. Timothy, from Lystra, probably witnessed the stoning. Paul later lists it among his sufferings.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 7 cover Iconium: success, opposition, division, the plot, and the flight to Lystra and Derbe. Verses 8 to 18 cover Lystra: the healing, the acclamation as gods, the sacrifice prepared, and the apostles' protest and sermon. Verses 19 and 20 record the stoning and Paul's recovery. Verses 21 to 23 describe the return visits, the encouragement, the warning about hardships, and the appointment of elders with prayer and fasting. Verses 24 to 28 trace the route home through Pisidia, Pamphylia, Perga, and Attalia to Antioch, and the report to the sending church.

Why this chapter matters

The chapter established the pattern of Paul's mission: synagogue first, then Gentiles, opposition, flight, and return to organize churches with elders. "We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" is the New Testament's frankest statement that suffering is normal for believers. The Lystra sermon, God known through rain and harvest and "not left without testimony," is the seed of the Christian appeal to natural revelation, developed at Athens in chapter 17. The scene of the apostles refusing worship, "We too are only men," has been the church's rebuke to the cult of religious leaders, and Paul getting up after being stoned is one of the most remarkable images of endurance in Acts.

Interpretive tension to watch

Luke says Paul was stoned and "presumed dead," and readers differ on whether his rising was a miracle or a recovery; Paul's own later mention of a man caught up to paradise has been linked to this day without evidence. Verse 4 calls Barnabas an apostle, which complicates the idea that the apostles were only the Twelve plus Paul. The appointing of elders on a return trip within months raises the question of how quickly new churches should have local leadership. And the Lystra sermon's claim that God "let all nations go their own way" sits beside Romans 1's judgment on those nations.

Perguntas para este capítulo

The same crowd wanted to sacrifice to Paul and then stoned him. What does that swing say about the applause of crowds?
Paul tells new believers that the kingdom is entered through many hardships. Is that a message churches today would put on their welcome sign?
God "has not left Himself without testimony" in rain and harvests. Where do people outside the church encounter his goodness before they hear his name?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Adicionar às notas

1 Now in Iconium they went together to the Synagogue of the Jews and gave such teaching that a great number of Jews and Greeks had faith. 2 But those Jews who had not the faith, made the minds of the Gentiles bitter against the brothers. 3 So they kept there for a long time, taking heart in the Lord, who gave witness to the word of his grace by causing signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But there was a division among the people of the town; some were on the side of the Jews and some on the side of the Apostles. 5 And when a violent attempt was made by the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, to make an attack on them and have them stoned, 6 Having got news of it, they went in flight to the towns of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the country round about: 7 And went on preaching the good news there. 8 And at Lystra there was a certain man, who from birth had been without the use of his feet, never having had the power of walking. 9 This man was giving ear to the preaching of Paul, who, looking at him, and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 Said in a loud voice, Get up on your feet. And, jumping up, he went walking about. 11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they said in a loud voice, in the language of Lycaonia, The gods have come down to us in the form of men. 12 And they gave the name of Jupiter to Barnabas, and to Paul that of Mercury, because he was the chief talker. 13 And the priest of the image of Jupiter, which was before the town, took oxen and flowers to the doors of the town, and was about to make an offering with the people. 14 But when this came to the ears of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, they went running out among the people, parting their clothing, and crying out, 15 Good people, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same feelings as you, and we give you the good news so that you may be turned away from these foolish things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them: 16 Who in the past let all nations go in the ways which seemed good to them. 17 But he was not without witness, because he did good, and gave you rain from heaven and times of fruit, making your hearts full of food and joy. 18 And even with these words, it was hard for them to keep the people from making an offering to them. 19 But some Jews came to that place from Antioch and Iconium, and got control over the people; and after stoning Paul, they had him pulled out of the town, taking him for dead. 20 But when the disciples came round him, he got up and went into the town: and the day after he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 And having made a number of disciples through the preaching of the good news in that town, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, 22 Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had made selection of some to be rulers in every church, and had given themselves to prayer and kept themselves from food, they put them into the care of the Lord in whom they had faith. 24 And they went through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And, after preaching the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia; 26 And from there they went by ship to Antioch, where they had been handed over to the grace of God for the work which they had not done. 27 And when they came there, and had got the church together, they gave them an account of all the things which God had done through them, and how he had made open a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they were with the disciples there for a long time.

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