Bible Study Acts 14
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Acts 14 · WEB

Iconium, Lystra, and the Return to Antioch

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In Iconium, they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.
2But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
3Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
5When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
6they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.
7There they preached the Good News.
8At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked.
9He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,
10said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet!" He leaped up and walked.
11When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"
12They called Barnabas "Jupiter," and Paul "Mercury," because he was the chief speaker.
13The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
14But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard about it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
15"Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of the same nature as you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;
16who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
17Yet he didn't leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
18Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.
19But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
20But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Barnabas to Derbe.
21When they had preached the Good News to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God's Kingdom.
23When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
24They passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia.
25When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
27When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations.
28They stayed there with the disciples for a long time.
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Summary

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas preach to a great mixed crowd of Jews and Greeks, but a plot to stone them drives them on to Lystra, where Paul heals a man lame from birth and the crowd, in their native Lycaonian dialect, mistakes the missionaries for the gods Zeus and Hermes come down — barely restrained from sacrificing oxen to them. Paul gives the first recorded gospel message to a wholly pagan audience, pointing them from creation, rain, and harvest to the living God. Then opponents from upstream cities arrive, sway the crowd, and Paul is stoned and left for dead — only to rise the next day and walk to Derbe. The two missionaries then retrace their route to strengthen the new churches, appoint elders in each, and finally return to Antioch in Syria where they report that God has opened a door of faith to the nations.

Themes

  • Mixed harvest — faith and hostility from the same crowd
  • The living God versus dumb idols
  • General revelation through creation and providence
  • Suffering as the doorway into the kingdom
  • Discipleship that endures through elder leadership

Key verses

  • Acts 14:15 — “We also are men of the same nature as you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God.”
  • Acts 14:17 — “He didn't leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons.”
  • Acts 14:22 — “Through many afflictions we must enter into God's Kingdom.”
  • Acts 14:27 — “He had opened a door of faith to the nations.”

Context & background

C. AD 47-48. Iconium (modern Konya, Turkey), Lystra (modern Hatunsaray, Turkey), and Derbe (modern Kerti Hüyük, Turkey) were cities in the Roman province of Galatia, in the inland highlands of south-central Anatolia. Lystra was a small Roman colony with a local Lycaonian dialect alongside Greek; an Ovid-recorded legend in this region told of Zeus and Hermes visiting earth disguised as travelers and being rejected by everyone except an elderly couple — which would have made the crowd's reaction in vv. 11-13 especially urgent: they were not going to make the same mistake twice. Paul's brief speech (vv. 15-17) is a model for engaging Gentiles with no Old Testament background — appealing to creation, providence, and conscience rather than Scripture, an approach he develops more fully at Athens (Acts 17). The stoning at Lystra (v. 19) is one of the events Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 11:25 ("once I was stoned"). Lystra was Timothy's hometown — Paul recruits him on his next visit (Acts 16:1). Appointing elders in every church (v. 23) shows that Paul never planted without establishing local leadership.

Cross-references

  • 2 Corinthians 11:25 — "Once I was stoned" — likely referring to Lystra.
  • 2 Timothy 3:11 — Paul reminds Timothy of "what persecutions I endured... at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra."
  • John 16:33 / 2 Timothy 3:12 — "In the world you have trouble" — the theology of "many afflictions" in v. 22.
  • Psalm 19:1-4 — Creation as universal witness — the theology behind Paul's appeal in v. 17.
  • Romans 1:18-23 — Paul's later, fuller treatment of how creation reveals God and idolatry corrupts that knowledge.

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    After Paul healed the lame man in Lystra, what did the crowd call Barnabas and Paul?

  2. Observe

    What happened to Paul at Lystra, and what did he do the very next day?

  3. Interpret

    Paul's first recorded speech to a wholly pagan audience (vv. 15-17) begins not with Scripture but with creation, rain, and harvest. What principle of cross-cultural evangelism does this establish?

  4. Interpret

    Paul told the new disciples, "Through many afflictions we must enter into God's Kingdom" (v. 22). Is this a curse, a coincidence, or something theologically deliberate?

  5. Apply

    Barnabas and Paul tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd to stop the sacrifice at Lystra, declaring, "We also are men of the same nature as you" (v. 14). What does their response model about handling undeserved honor or praise?

  6. Apply

    Before leaving each new community, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders and committed them to the Lord (v. 23). What does this pattern teach about how long-term discipleship and church health should be planned from the start?

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