Acts Lesson 2: 14.8-20
LAST WEEK: We studied part of Acts 13 during Paul's first missionary journey when he delivered the gospel message to a largely Jewish audience in a synagogue at Antioch in the region of Pisidia (see map). Shaping his message to the audience as "fellow Jews," he established four major factual points based upon OT prophecy: (1) God had given His promise to send a Savior to His chosen people, Israel [e.g., 353 Messianic prophecies]; (2) He had kept that promise by sending Jesus, a descendant of David, in exact fulfillment of prophecies given hundreds of years before He came; (3) The fact that the Jewish leaders rejected and killed Jesus did not nullify God's plan but fulfilled it in accordance with Scripture; and (4) God then raised Jesus from the dead, also in accordance with OT prophecy. He followed his message with an invitation that proclaimed two great spiritual truths: (1) God kept His promise of redemption by offering salvation to all people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (13:26-37); and (2) God invites all to come: Will you believe in Jesus and be saved or will you refuse God's promise and be judged (13:38-39)?
THIS WEEK: Further along his first missionary journey, we catch up with Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14 in a placed called Lystra, in the vicinity of Iconium (see map). There, they were unable to preach the gospel in a synagogue as they ordinarily did (the text doesn't reveal why) but were apparently "street preaching" to Gentiles, who were pure pagans rather than Jews or "God-fearers," who would have been familiar with the tenets of Judaism. The story opens as Paul and Barnabas, while walking through the city, encounter a severely crippled man in their path.
Read Acts 14:8-10 - A Healing Miracle
8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking.
v. 8: "Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked" - The preceding verse states that, "there (in Lystra) they continued to preach the gospel, which implies their prime mission was to preach, not to perform miracles; coming across the crippled man was an unexpected event.
v. 9a: "He listened to Paul speaking" - The crippled man heard Paul preaching about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. When he heard the mention of Jesus' name, he knew that Jesus could touch his life, but notice, he just looked at Paul; he didn't ask for anything.
v. 9b: "And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well" - How could Paul "see" this man's faith? It's obvious that God gave Paul the gift of discernment at that moment in time to respond to this man's show of faith-one of those divine appointments. And with this discernment, Paul also "saw" that the man had the faith not only for salvation, but also for the power of healing.
v. 10: "said in a loud voice, 'Stand upright on your feet.' And he sprang up and began walking" - Knowing at that point he had the power of the Spirit, Paul boldly commanded the man to stand and walk, and the crippled man's faith was confirmed by his instant obedience to Paul's command. While God is not obligated to heal simply because of one's faith, He can and will reward such faith with a miraculous healing as a demonstration of His power and grace. On the other hand, many people do not receive God's healing power because they simply do not have faith.
Read Acts 14:11-13 - Crowd Goes Berserk
11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.
v. 11-12: "And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!' 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker." - When the pagan bystanders witnessed this miracle, they went wild, shouting to each other in their native Lycaonian tongue that the gods had come down to earth. Based upon a popular Greek myth, they believed in an old legend in which Zeus and Hermes came to earth disguised as men, and after receiving no hospitality from the people except for an elderly couple, supposedly reportedly destroyed the entire population except for these two old people. Based upon what they had seen, the crowd identified Barnabas as Zeus, the chief Greek god and Paul as Hermes because he seemed to be doing all the talking. Meanwhile, Paul and Barnabas, who didn't understand the Lycaonian language, didn't have a clue as to what these people were so excited about.
Note: This is a very different setting and ethnic context from last week where we saw Paul addressing an assembly of ethnic Jews and "God fearers" who believed in the in true God
v. 13: "And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds" - When Paul and Barnabas saw the pagan priest come forward and what he planned to do with the oxen and the garlands, they knew the situation had gotten way out of hand. When they finally realized what was happening--that the people intended to worship them as 'gods'--they were horror-struck by the very idea of it.
Read Acts 14:14-18 - Paul's Strong Appeal to the Crowd
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
v. 14: "But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out" - They responded this way for two reasons: (1) they wanted to show the crowd they were ordinary humans, just like them and (2) it was the ingrained Jewish reaction to blasphemy. Paul and Barnabas both considered any type worship directed at them rather then toward God to be the worst sort of blasphemy.
v. 15: "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them" - Notice that the response of Barnabas and Paul was not an evangelistic message but an appeal for them to stop their pagan worship, i.e., "turn from these vain (or false) gods" to the one Living God, the one who created all that they see. These were strong words to people who took their pagan worship seriously, but Paul wasn't afraid to confront them with the truth. Paul's first point was to convince them that he and Barnabas were simply ordinary men, not incarnation of gods, and his second point was to let them know they had come as representatives of the one true God, not the heathen gods they planned to worship.
v. 16-17: "In past generations He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness" - Paul didn't preach to this pagan crowd as he would to those familiar with Judaism. He doesn't quote OT prophecy to them but instead, appeals the natural revelation of God which can be understood (even by pagans) by simply looking at the world around them. The term "allowing the nations to walk in their own ways" meant they weren't under a covenant with God like Israel, yet God's kindness to then and all of humankind, e.g. "rains, fruitful seasons, and "food"-was evidence not only of God's power but also His love for them.
v. 18: "Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them" - This verse suggest that Paul and Barnabas got control of the situation, just barely. No further honors were given to them or any sacrifice made. At the very least, they had stopped the blasphemy-no party. It reminds of the expression of "being all dressed up with no place to go."
Read Acts 14:19-20 - Paul Stoned at Lystra
19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
v. 19a: "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium" - Scholars suggest there must have been a time gap between this verse and v. 18. In any case, just as the situation with the crowd at Lystra seemed to have been neutralized, a group of hostile Jews who had resisted Paul previously arrived from Iconium (20 miles away) and Antioch (100 miles away, so it took them some time to get there) to create trouble for them. The objective of these Jewish opponents was to hinder the spread of the gospel in any way possible.
v. 19b: "and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead" - The first thing theses Jew did was incite the crowd and instigate the stoning of Paul. They apparently directed their rage only at Paul because he performed the healing and did all of the talking. This whole incident shows how fickle and unpredictable an unruly crowd of people can be. After the stoning, Paul appeared to dead and like a piece of refuse, they dragged and dumped his body outside the city. There has been a lot of speculation over Paul's actual condition at this point. Since a stoning by a large crowd is typically fatal, some commentators have hypothesized that he actually died and was raised back to life, but this is sheer conjecture. Other commentators have wondered whether Paul thought of Stephen when he was being stoned and the role Paul played in it (Acts 7:58-8:1). Paul later mentions this stoning in 2 Cor. 11:25, but doesn't elaborate on it.
v. 20: "But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe" - The text doesn't explain who these "disciples" were, but in all likelihood they were Lystrians who had believed Paul's message and wanted to follow him. The fact that he "rose up" indicated that he wasn't completely immobilized. Amazingly, undeterred and unafraid, Paul went right back into a city full of people who had tried to kill him. The next day, he and Barnabas departed for Derbe, about 50 miles to the southeast.
Comment: Faced with a pagan crowd who wanted to pay homage to them as gods, Paul and Barnabas attempted to counteract the potentially profane situation by addressing the crowd with news of the one true God who created everything (as opposed to false idols). This speech, the first gospel presentation to pagan Gentiles in the book of Acts, is seen is a "translation or transition" of the Christian message for pagans who were completely unfamiliar with the Hebrew Bible and Jewish theology. This approach models a context-sensitive approach to unsophisticated pagans in order to lay the groundwork for a fuller proclamation of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This still holds true in many parts of the world today (even the U.S.) just as it did almost 2,000 years ago.
APPLICATION: Like Paul and Barnabas, when we find ourselves witnessing to spiritually ignorant people, we should never take advantage of their naïveté in order to gain their trust. The first step is to take a contextualized approach that introduces and explains to them to the essential truth of the one true God, who has revealed Himself to all of us through both His creation and through His Word, taking it step-by-step until they are ready to repent and be introduced to Jesus Christ as Savior. With many of today's Millennial Generation-people who have never been to church or Sunday school-this type of step-by-step approach may be needed. It's a judgment call.
PRAYER: LORD GOD, our Father and Creator, we come before Your throne this morning with humble and grateful hearts, thanking and praising You for Your love, mercy, and undeserved grace toward us and for all of the many blessings you give us this day and every day. We thank you, LORD, for this good church, and I pray for the health, safety, and wellbeing of each member as we are forced to remain apart during this pandemic. As we continue through this study of the Book of Acts, LORD, I ask that you will help each one of us to be mindful of the things we need to know about witnessing to a lost world like the one Paul describes in today's lesson-people who know nothing about you. More than anything, God, help us to show them your love, goodness, and kindness. Help us explain to them who you are and what you have been doing in this world since the beginning of time-that everything around and above them was created by You for a purpose. Help us explain, LORD, that You not only love them but have a plan, a purpose for them-not to hurt them but a plan to prosper them, and give them hope for a future, a future that includes spending eternity in heaven with You.
I pray for any people listening today who do not know You-that you will speak to their hearts, so that they will come. In the powerful name above all names, Jesus Christ, I ask these things, AMEN.
