acts 14:22 commentary

The enemy who stood behind the furious mob, as he stood behind the attempt to sacrifice unto them, would have killed Paul. They called Barnabas Jupiter, he being more aged, no other reason being assigned; and Paul they called Mercurius, because of his superior eloquence. As a church grew, other people developed the sorts of spiritual gifts that directed them towards eldership (1 Timothy 3:1). II. They can have had no other motive in proceeding in such a direction than that of visiting all the congregations which had been gathered on this missionary journey, and, of establishing them more firmly, both in their external and their internal affairs. It is rent in just twain. C.—Tr.]. How many we, as good soldiers of Christ [ 2 Timothy 2:3], fight a good fight [ 2 Timothy 4:7]? Hence learn, that ordination of ministers is a ministerial act; the officers of the church, and not the people, must separate and set apart, consecrate and ordain, the persons who are to attend upon God and his church in holy things. Thou dost also pluck off the blossom ere it is yet formed, or set in promise of fruit. 21. 1. Sometimes we are inclined to think that the enemy can outdo the friend in energy. Without this the prize of eternal life cannot be won. They hated the new faith, they abominated the detestable democracy which would throw down sonship in Abraham, and make the Gentiles equal to the Jews, and so they, too, were missionaries, though animated by a different spirit. II. When the people saw it, they were amazed, “saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.” They were worshipers of the Greek gods and they thought two of these had appeared on earth. 5 : λιθασθείς), is necessarily to be assumed, so long as we cannot wantonly admit the possibility that the author has here inserted the incident known to him from 2 Cor. Paul says in our text, “we must”; “it is the order of things, that through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of God.” Wherever he went he found trouble; and he found everywhere necessity for the same line of argument; he had to “confirm,” that is, to strengthen the souls of the disciples; to exhort them to continue steadfast in the belief of Christianity as a message of glad tidings, notwithstanding all their present trials. : had made many disciples. In a case like this too we should expect more than a brief period of recuperation, but after a night's rest he was ready to walk with Barnabas to Derbe and preach the gospel there God's miraculous intervention is evident in this. In the faith - In the belief of the gospel. It gets to a god, but not to the Spirit and the Invisible, much less to the one invisible Spirit; nay, its way of getting to a god is by bringing its gods to itself" in the likeness of men." Hinderers give publicity to the Christian Church, calling the attention of many who would otherwise not hear of it. 1. is said) both of Jews and Greeks, believed (Acts 15:1). The elders for Gentile churches were not appointed by Paul and Barnabas right at the start of the church, but at a second visit. Preparation for work in the neighborhood. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, who was lame in his feet, being a cripple from his mother"s womb, who had never been able to walk: the same heard Paul speak: and as Paul was steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, so he said to him with a loud voice, Stand up on your feet. Where we fear, thou dost cause us to hope. Now that you"ve accepted Jesus, all of your problems are over! See how the psalmist recognizes the universal witness of this nature-voice: "Their sound is gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world;" and apply especially to the harvest-time of earth, which knits the millions of earth together in the joyful recognition of God's loving care and providing mercies. Hindrances will dishearten and depress some. They have very little concept of the true and the living God. 1. (5th Series), vol. Those influences, of course, differ according to the disposition of the workers. Sin. The disciples had been but newly converted to the faith, and they required to be established through grace. And it led them to cherish serious thoughts about the vast work to be done among the Gentile nations, now God had so evidently opened the door to them all. On the same trip also Paul and Barnabas had the congregations in each city elect, by popular vote, by a show of hands, elders in every congregation. And according to the legend, years earlier, Jupiter and Hermes came to the city of Lystra incognito. The main difficulty to which St. Paul addresses himself is, Why then has God permitted the nations to remain so long in ignorance? Or when—, IV. He does not know that Paul was dead; his medical skill familiarised him with protracted states of unconsciousness; so all he vouches for is that Paul lay as if dead on some rubbish heap ‘without the camp,’ and that, with courage and persistence which were supernatural, whether his reviving was so or not, the man thus sorely battered went back to the city, and next day went on with his work, as if stoning was a trifle not to be taken account of. That happened at the very beginning of his service, but he never forgot it. They seem to have been included at this time in the dominions of Antiochus, king of Commagene (Lewin). Acts 14:22, NIV: "strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. If there be any way on horseback to heaven, surely this is the way, said another martyr (Bradford.) And it had to be just the discerning of the Spirit of God on Paul"s part. Marvellous, that he who had stoned Stephen should now be stoned in the same glorious cause. In Iconium there was largely a repetition of the experiences at Antioch. We learn by teaching; and he that watereth is watered himself. XV:11.—Ibid. IV. TRIBULATION AS TAKEN UP INTO THE DIVINE MINISTRY. XV:1, 2.—Expositor (5th Series), vol. What will secure the practical acceptance of Divine truth? But there came Jews thither [to this foolish, fickle Galatian mob] from Antioch and Iconium; and, having persuaded the multitudes [that if the Apostles were not gods, they were God"s foes], they stoned Paul [ 2 Corinthians 11:25], and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. Greek, μαθητευσαντες ικανους, having made many disciples; they returned again to Lystra, &c. — Being doubtless directed so to do by the Spirit; confirming the souls of the disciples — Whom they had converted in their former journey; exhorting them to continue in the faith — With a steadfastness becoming the evidence and importance of it; and testifying that we must through much tribulation — Which will unavoidably lie in our way; enter into the kingdom of God — A kingdom which, however, will amply recompense us for all the sufferings that we shall meet with in our way to it. There was great scarcity of water in Lycaonia, owing to a deficient rainfall. ] This did not mean, however, that all those born into the Israelite race were, on account of their nationality, automatically forgiven their sins and blessed with God's eternal favour. The people who would have deified Paul are very easily persuaded against him by certain Jews who followed his footsteps, and they stone him, as they thought, to death. The world is a great snare to the child of God. ", "It"s going to be tough, but through much tribulation, we will enter into the kingdom of God.". And "musts" there must be in the life and work and discipline of his followers. The priests have pulled the strings before today, and are trying to get hold of them now. In addition to appointing spiritual leadership in these Churches, Paul and Barnabas employed on their behalf the forces of spiritual intercession and sympathy. Became aware for were ware, A.V. The first missionary report contained--. ], FN#14 - Acts 14:21. c. [Lach. Possibly the wounds he later referred to in his Letter to the Galatians were the result of injuries he received on this occasion (Galatians 6:17). The Lycaoniaus doubtless understood Greek as the language of intercommunication all over Roman Asia, but among themselves would speak their native dialect. Hence of the number who saw Christ's miracles, how very few became his disciples! Not an external (bodily) rite, but an internal (spiritual) grace. I want to somehow put God into a rut because I"m always in a rut. Lystra. Pagan sentiments overwhelmed the Christian teaching. These things men commonly take for granted, while complaining about occasions of need or trouble, forgetting to give their Creator credit for anything. Therefore our laziness needeth pricks, and our coldness must be warmed. In the kingdom of God the tribulations of this life will increase the happiness of the former sufferer (Hebrews 12:10-11; Revelation 7:14-17). Don"t stop short by worshipping the creature. Acts 14:23. Nothing could have been more becoming than that they should report to the Church how the work had fared. But he must have been terribly bruised and suffering, and it would seem that he never fully recovered the effects of this scene. He has supreme authority over it and is the source of its life, growth and strength (Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 4:15-16; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:19). Why it is proper, or fit, the apostle did not state. Each man's life is so adjusted in its circumstances and so measured as to its length as to constitute on the whole a complete probation for the man. The agency he uses must be in relation to our bodily senses. Even the Lord Jesus, the most gifted speaker in history, exhorted His audiences to take care how they listened (Luke 8:18). Exhorting them to continue in the faith.—The question meets us whether “faith” is used in its subjective sense, the “feeling of trust,” or objectively, as including the main substance of what was believed and taught—“a belief or creed.” That the latter meaning had become established a few years after St. Luke wrote, we see in 1Timothy 5:8; Jude Acts 14:3; Acts 14:20; and on the whole it seems probable that it is so used here. And we"re telling Him all the reasons why we can"t rather than just obey and going ahead and doing it. Of course there are many exceptions. See the notes on Matthew 3:2. One example of this would be Apollos, who was an Alexandrian Jew, and mighty in the Scriptures before his conversion. (3.) Thus it is "through much tribulation" we enter into the sweetness of the promises. They permit no persecutions to arrest their progress; II. Entertain the thought that going through earthly tribulations is entering in. The Latin origin of the word, as taken from tribulum, the threshing-roller, should be explained. This illustrates the statement in Romans 10:17, that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.". Exhort them to steadfastness and endurance "even unto the end.". They helped Christians develop the ability to discern between teaching that was wholesome and teaching that was not, and so grow towards spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:13-14; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 1 Timothy 1:3-5; 1 Timothy 4:6-8; Hebrews 5:12-14). II. Search a pre-defined list. lib. Many of Paul's expressions regarding salvation "through faith" or "by faith" have no bearing whatever on the Lutheran heresy of redemption by "faith only," but mean simply that men are saved through, or by, Christianity, or the Christian religion. Now he would have them worshiped as gods. They were organizing themselves, truly after very rough sort, for this purpose. We do not always know what we are doing, but the Master knows, and that is enough. On this sentence Olshausen writes, "In the first place, Paul contrasts the present time, as the time of the Messiah, with former times, in which the heathen world, with no such light as the Jewish nation possessed, lived on in their own ways. The Apostles, returning to the Syrian capital, said, "Brethren, the door is opened, the Gentiles are accessible. Observe (1) that elders were not appointed as soon as the churches were planted; time must be taken so as to know what men were fitted for the office; (2) that elders were not appointed to preside over a district, but in every church; (3) that there was a plurality; (4) that they were set apart with fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands. There is a marked difference between Paul's address here and messages which he delivered to the Jews. The ... (cf. And this is an encouraging similitude. — At Derbe, Paul was not far from the well-known pass which leads down from the central tableland to Cilicia and Tarsus. Persuading the multitudes, however fickle they were, would take some time; and indeed one ancient text of Acts has an expansion of the verse: ‘They persuaded the multitudes to depart from them [the Apostles], saying that they spake nothing true, but lied in everything.’. We may choose between believing and disbelieving it, but the rejection of the supernatural does not make this book easier to accept, but utterly chaotic. 'gave you rains.' Acts 14:23 >>. The apostles at Iconium "so spake" (Acts 14:1), i.e. As the gospel is still persistently first preached to the Jew and from the pulpit that the synagogue constituted, so it seems that generally some of the Jews (and of course not infrequently Greeks with them) believed. Paul was suffering when he said those words. 2. Cheer up, then, oh my soul: and upon thy fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, even in the midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest darkness of death itself, sing then to thy God songs of confidence, of joy, of praise and thanksgiving. ‘And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingly Rule of God. The return journey was a sort of triumphal tour, very different from the going. He ordained elders before he ordained a pastor. Nothing is said of whether many at Lystra turned to the Lord, though we read of one particular man, a cripple from birth. There are many who walk in the paths of suffering who are not Christ’s disciples; but the path now in view is the path of holy suffering: Jesus Christ Himself travelled this road. 1. Later, Paul wrote to Timothy who came from this area. Within what society sees as the visible church are those who are genuine believers and those who are not. The priests of Jupiter and the whole populace of Lystra were ready to worship Barnabas and Paul because of the healing of the cripple, but they were as ready immediately afterwards to atone them and cast them out of their city. The grace of this was too surprising to the Jewish mind, and it was a long time ere it could receive the truth. Not that it is fixed by any fatal necessity, but that we are not to expect that it will be otherwise. If there be one element of this human life more needful than another for the perfecting of a sanctifying fellowship between the Saviour and the soul, it is the element of suffering. Though it was a great and important thing to have their heads, their understanding, properly informed, yet, if the heart was not disciplined, information in the understanding would be of little avail; therefore they confirmed the Souls of the disciples. vii., p. 11. Why they came thither: because thence they had been recommended to the grace of God, and such a value did they put upon a solemn recommendation to the grace of God, though they had themselves a great interest in heaven, that they never thought they could show respect enough to those who had so recommended them. 4. The happiness which awaits the redeemed in heaven can only be reached through an avenue of suffering. The church on its part was to support financially those who sacrificed their time and income to minister to it (Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17-18). There was no central organization or head church to control all others, and no set of laws either to hold the churches together in one body or to hold all the believers in one church together. Be assured, then, that God has provided richer grace in the gospel which we preach, for the moral maladies of the mind. This was the principal way to confirm, in that they provoke the disciples who had before embraced the Gospel and did profess it, to go forward by exhorting them; for we are far from being so ready and stout 45 45 “ Prompti et strenui,” prompt and strenuous. And then comes on us this consideration: if there be but one God, our supreme concern is to be in right relations with him. But that joyful conviction, which shot through the crowd, reveals how deep lies the longing for the manifestation of divinity in the form of humanity, and how natural it is to believe that, if there is a divine being, he is sure to draw near to us poor men, and that in our own likeness. 1 Corinthians 14:3-4; 1 Corinthians 14:12; 1 Corinthians 14:26).

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