Chapter 14
Paul and Barnabas at Iconium. 1 In Iconium they entered the
Jewish synagogue together and spoke in such a way that a great number of both
Jews and Greeks came to believe, 2 although the disbelieving Jews stirred up
and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers. 3 So they stayed
for a considerable period, speaking out boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the
word about his grace by granting signs and wonders to occur through their
hands. 4 The people of the city were divided: some were with the Jews; others,
with the apostles. 5 When there was an attempt by both the Gentiles and the
Jews, together with their leaders, to attack and stone them, 6 they realized it
and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding
countryside, 7 where they continued to proclaim the good news.
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 8 [a]At Lystra there was a
crippled man, lame from birth, who had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul
speaking, who looked intently at him, saw that he had the faith to be healed,
10 and called out in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet.” He jumped
up and began to walk about. 11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they
cried out in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in human form.” 12 They
called Barnabas “Zeus”[b] 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, for he together with the people
intended to offer sacrifice.
14 The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their garments[c]
when they heard this and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, 15 [d]“Men, why
are you doing this? We are of the same nature as you, human beings. We proclaim
to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God, ‘who
made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.’ 16 In past generations
he allowed all Gentiles to go their own ways; 17 yet, in bestowing his
goodness, he did not leave himself without witness, for he gave you rains from
heaven and fruitful seasons, and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your
hearts.” 18 Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from
offering sacrifice to them.
19 However, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and
won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered around him, he
got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for
Derbe.
End of the First Mission. 21 After they had proclaimed the
good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they
returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. 22 They strengthened the
spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
23 They appointed presbyters[e] for them in each church and, with prayer and
fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. 24 Then
they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. 25 After proclaiming the
word at Perga they went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now
accomplished. 27 And when they arrived, they called the church together and
reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to
the Gentiles. 28 Then they spent no little time with the disciples.
Footnotes
14:8–18 In an effort to convince his hearers that the divine
power works through his word, Paul cures the cripple. However, the pagan
tradition of the occasional appearance of gods among human beings leads the
people astray in interpreting the miracle. The incident reveals the cultural
difficulties with which the church had to cope. Note the similarity of the
miracle worked here by Paul to the one performed by Peter in Acts 3:2–10.
14:12 Zeus…Hermes: in Greek religion, Zeus was the chief of
the Olympian gods, the “father of gods and men”; Hermes was a son of Zeus and
was usually identified as the herald and messenger of the gods.
14:14 Tore their garments: a gesture of protest.
14:15–17 This is the first speech of Paul to Gentiles
recorded by Luke in Acts (cf. Acts 17:22–31). Rather than showing how
Christianity is the logical outgrowth of Judaism, as he does in speeches before
Jews, Luke says that God excuses past Gentile ignorance and then presents a
natural theology arguing for the recognition of God’s existence and presence
through his activity in natural phenomena.
14:23 They appointed presbyters: the communities are given
their own religious leaders by the traveling missionaries. The structure in
these churches is patterned on the model of the Jerusalem community (Acts
11:30; 15:2, 5, 22; 21:18).
Source Catholic Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)
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