Chapter II

_VISIT TO LYSTRA, DERBE――DISPUTES AT ANTIOCH._
A.D. 48–50.

ON reaching Iconium[888], as they had done at Antioch, the Apostles repaired to the synagogue, and there proclaimed their message with such success, that a great multitude both of Jews and Gentiles embraced the faith. Thereupon the unbelieving Jews repeated the tactics already found so successful at Antioch. They excited the minds of the Gentile population against the brethren, and stirred up a furious opposition (Acts xiv. 2). On this occasion, however, the Apostles did not feel themselves called to leave the city immediately. They remained at Iconium some considerable time, and spoke boldly in the Name of their Divine Master, who attested the truth of their words by many _miracles and signs_. In the end the population was divided. The one, including the influential classes, sided with the Jews, the other with the Apostles. At length a conspiracy was formed with the connivance of the magistrates (Acts xiv. 5) to insult and even stone them, and Paul and Barnabas, recognising the signal to leave, betook themselves to the neighbouring Lycaonian towns, Lystra[889] and Derbe[890].

Lystra was the place first visited, and here there was no synagogue, and apparently but few Jews. It was a small town in a wild district and amongst a rude population speaking a dialect of their own, and serving _the gods many and lords many_ of primitive heathenism. The Apostles therefore could only make known their message by repairing to places of public resort, and addressing themselves to such groups as curiosity or interest might gather together. On one of these occasions, a man, who had been a cripple from his birth (Acts xiv. 8), and who probably sat for alms in the public thoroughfare, listened to them with deep attention. Thereupon the Apostle Paul, moved with compassion, and probably sensible of the necessity of some miracle to attest his authority, as also perceiving that the man had faith to be healed, fixed his eye upon him and addressing him in a loud voice, said, _Stand upright on thy feet_. In an instant the man sprang up, and leaped, and walked.

Such a cure of such a man in such a manner was speedily noised abroad, and the multitudes gathering together no sooner saw what had been done, than they lifted up their voices, saying in their native Lycaonian dialect[891], _The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men_ (Acts xiv. 11). That the gods, in the form of mortal men, did often visit the earth, was a cherished belief amongst many heathen nations, and nowhere more than in the very district now visited by the Apostles[892]. The tutelar deity of Lystra was Zeus, Jupiter, and at the entrance of the town he had a temple, where he was worshipped as its founder and protector. The inhabitants therefore rushed to the conclusion, that in the Apostle Barnabas, probably in consequence of his venerable appearance, they beheld none other than the “father of gods and men,” while in his companion, who was _the chief speaker_, they thought they recognised Hermes, or Mercury, the god of eloquence, and the frequent companion of Jupiter on his visits to earth[893].

The news that these deities had honoured Lystra with their presence quickly spread, and reached the ears of the priest of Jupiter. Accordingly he and his assistants soon appeared with oxen and garlands before the residence of the Apostles, prepared to offer sacrifice in their honour. Perceiving for the first time the object of these proceedings, Paul and Barnabas rushed forth from their abode, and meeting the procession approaching the vestibule[894], exclaimed, _Sirs, what do ye? we also are men of like passions with you_. And then they went on to declare the real purport of their coming, which was to persuade them to turn from the worship of such false gods, to the living and life-giving God, the Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein, who in the past generations had permitted all nations[895] to walk in their own ways, interposing not by any visible judgment or by any world-wide revelation, but who had not left Himself without witness, doing good to the creatures of His hand, giving _rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with joy and gladness_ (Acts xiv. 15–17).

Even this appeal hardly prevailed upon the people to abandon their intentions. At length they reluctantly retired, and led away the victims without offering them in sacrifice to the Apostles. The impression, however, thus made was on the surface only, and was soon to give place to an entire revulsion of feeling. It had become known at Antioch and Iconium, whither the Apostles had retired. From both places, therefore, certain of the Jews made their way to Lystra, and stirred up the minds of the people against their newly-arrived visitors, representing, it is not improbable, that they were impostors, and practised magical arts[896]. Thereupon, with the fickleness for which they were proverbial, the Lycaonians turned upon the men they had so lately been willing to adore, and actually stoned Paul[897], and supposing him to be dead dragged him forth out of their town.

Some disciples[898], however, had been made even in Lystra, and these did not now desert their teacher in the hour of peril. While they were standing around him, and probably using means for his restoration, the Apostle arose, and returned with them to his abode. A longer stay was clearly dangerous, and therefore on the morrow he and his companion left for the neighbouring town of Derbe, and thence, having preached the Word and made several disciples (Acts xiv. 21), they returned through the several towns they had visited, exhorting the disciples to abide constant in the faith, and reminding them that _through much affliction they must enter the kingdom of God_. Moreover in the several churches they had established they now appointed elders[899], and after prayer and fasting, solemnly presented them before the Lord (Acts xiv. 23). Thence they proceeded to Perga, and after preaching the Word there, to the sea-port of ♦Attaleia. There they took ship, and sailing to Seleucia reached Antioch, and on their arrival summoned the brethren, and announced to them the success of their mission, and the many proofs they had witnessed that _God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles_ (Acts xiv. 27).

Arrived at Antioch, the Apostles continued there for some time, A.D. 47–50, strengthening and confirming the faith of the Church, and during their stay began that contest with the Judaizing Christians with which St Paul was destined to be so largely occupied.

It had by this time become clear that the Christian faith, instead of being the purest and highest form of Judaism, was to prove itself a world-wide universal religion, and that its Jewish elements were to be absorbed and _vanish away_. In every nation and in every place, at Joppa, at Cæsarea, at Antioch, in rude village-towns like Lystra and Derbe, as well as populous cities like Perga and Iconium, it was seen that God accepted without respect of persons those that feared Him and worked righteousness (Acts x. 34, 35).

Such a revolution of feeling towards the Gentile world[900] could not be at once received with entire acquiescence. At Jerusalem, in sight of the Temple, and in the midst of all the associations of his faith and national history, the exclusive feelings, which the Jew carried with him wherever he went, were concentrated and intensified[901]. Hitherto there had been no attempt to define the mutual relations of Jewish and Gentile converts. “All such questions, it would seem, had been tacitly passed over, neither side perhaps being desirous of provoking discussion[902].” Events, however, now occurred, which rendered necessary a solution of the question.

Certain _false brethren_[903] (Gal. ii. 12) went down from Judæa to Antioch (Acts xv. 1), and _creeping in unawares_[904], began to observe with no favourable eye the extent to which the Jewish Law was relaxed in favour of the Gentile Christians, and their liberty in Christ Jesus vindicated (Gal. ii. 4). Before long they began to insinuate, not that the observance of certain ceremonies in themselves indifferent was advisable for the sake of expediency, but that the rite of circumcision was essential for salvation; _Except ye be circumcised_, said they to the Gentile Christians, _ye cannot be saved_ (Acts xv. 1).

To such a doctrine no one was more opposed than the Apostle Paul. To the subjection which these teachers required, he would not advise his Gentile converts to yield, _no, not for an hour_ (Gal. ii. 5). The consequence was, that no small dissension and disputation arose between himself and Barnabas on the one hand, and the false teachers on the other, and no slight anxiety and perplexity harassed the minds of the disciples.

At length it was resolved that he and Barnabas with certain others should go up to Jerusalem, and seek an interview with the Apostles and Elders, with the object of settling the dispute[905]. Any hesitation the Apostle might have felt about the expediency of the course proposed was removed by a special _revelation_[906] (Gal. ii. 2) which conspired with the declared view of the church at Antioch, and intimated to him that the journey found favour with God, and that an authoritative settlement of the question was necessary to the well-being of the Christian churches[907].

Accordingly he himself, accompanied by Barnabas, a Jew and a Levite by birth, and therefore a fair representative of the circumcision, Titus, a living example of the power of God among the heathen[908], and some of the Christian brethren of the towns through which they passed, set out on their memorable journey.