HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 14:1-7
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium; or, continued Opposition from the Jews
I. Their occupation in Iconium.—
1. The town and its population. The town. Compelled to retire from Antioch in consequence of the threatening attitude of the Jews, who stirred up against them the principal inhabitants of the city and their wives—in fact, expelled by these from their coasts, the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, not without shaking off the dust from their feet as a testimony against their co-religionists (Matthew 10:14), directed their steps towards Iconium, now called Konieh, a city lying on the road between Antioch and Lystra, at a distance of ninety (others say sixty) miles south-east from the former city and forty north-west from the latter” (Plumptre). Whether it belonged to the province of Lycaonia, or of Phrygia, or of Pisidia, appears to be as much disputed by modern as by ancient writers (see “Critical Remarks”). Perhaps the truth is that Iconium belonged originally to Phrygia but afterwards became a city of Lycaonia. Professor Ramsay thinks it may have been in 63 B.C. that according to Pliny (Nat. Hist., Acts 14:25), “a tetrarchy of Lycaonia containing fourteen cities, with Iconium as capital, was formed,” and that it was “given to King Polemo in 39 B.C. by Mark Antony” (The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 41). If so, Luke’s statement that Paul and Barnabas, on leaving Iconium, fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, will require explanation; and this Professor Ramsay furnishes by saying that, while between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D. for administrative purposes Iconium was reckoned to Lycaonia, in all probability the Iconians, true to their tribal feelings, and adhering to their old nationality, “continued to count themselves Phrygian” (Ibid., 38). In any case, Iconium was the principal city of that district which was called by the Romans Lycaonia, and was situated at the foot of the Taurus, like a green oasis in the middle of bleak plains that were “scoured by wild asses and grazed by countless herds of sheep.” The modern city Konieh, says Captain Kinneir, “extends to the east and south over the plain far beyond the walls, which is about two miles in circumference.… Mountains covered with snow rise on every side, excepting towards the east, where a plain as flat as the desert of Arabia extends far beyond the reach of the eye” (quoted by Conybeare and Howson, i. 174).
(2) Its population. These, according to the writers just named, were a mixed company: “A large number of trifling and frivolous Greeks, whose principal place of resort would be the theatre and the market-place; some remains of a still older population, coming in occasionally from the country, or residing in a separate quarter of the town; some few Roman officials, civil or military, holding themselves proudly aloof from the inhabitants of the subjugated province; and an old established colony of Jews who exercised their trade during the week and met on the Sabbath to read law in the synagogue (Ibid., i. 174). 2 The apostles and their ministry.
(1) The place where this was exercised was in the first instance at least the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath days and afterwards during week days, probably in public thoroughfares and other places of resort.
(2) The form in which it was exercised was twofold—preaching or speaking in the Lord, i.e., in the power of His Spirit—the theme of their preaching being as elsewhere the doctrine of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and God’s Son, proved through His rising from the dead; and working miracles, though none of these have been recorded—doing signs and wonders through which God gave testimony to the word of His grace.
(3) The time during which it was exercised cannot be determined, though the words “long time “point to a considerable stay, perhaps of some months, in this important town.
(4) The manner in which it was exercised is described as “boldly,” their confidence increasing as their convictions of the truth of the gospel deepened and as their observation of its saving power widened.
(5) The efficiency with which it was exercised was revealed by the success which attended it. The apostles so spake, in such a manner and with such a result, that “a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed,” so great a multitude indeed that the city seemed to be split in twain (Acts 14:4).
II. Their experience in Iconium.—
1. The minds of the heathen population were turned against them. Not of their own accord, but through the misrepresentations of the unbelieving Jews, who, no doubt, employed similar tactics to those employed by their co-religionists at Antioch (Acts 13:45), perhaps vilifying the persons of the apostles, putting a false colour on the object of their mission, and, above all, traducing the character and name of Jesus whom they preached.
2. A threefold combination was formed against them. The Gentiles, the Jews (in both cases the unbelieving portion of them—“the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), and their rulers—i.e., both the civic and the ecclesiastic, the magistrates of the town and the officers of the synagogue conceived a design to set on foot active measures of hostility against the apostles even to the length of maltreating and stoning them—measures, however, which were never carried out (see “Critical Remarks”).
III. Their departure from Iconium.—
1. Prompted by their knowledge of what was being concerted against them. How they became acquainted with the evil designs of their adversaries, though not related, need occasion no difficulty, since they had numerous friends in the city who were interested in their safety, and above all Him upon their side of whom it had been written, “He preserveth the souls of His saints, and delivereth them out of the hands of the wicked” (Psalms 97:10). Advised of their peril, like prudent men they fled (Proverbs 22:3), acting on the counsel Christ had given to His disciples (Matthew 10:23).
2. Effected with complete success. In this case, as in a former (Acts 9:25), Paul’s enemies had been outwitted. Whatever annoyance he and Barnabas had suffered, they were not on this occasion stoned. Nor did they deem it necessary by remaining longer in Iconium to become martyrs before their time.
3. Directed towards the two adjoining cities of Lystra and Derbe. The exact sites of these cities are unknown, “Lystra,” says Lewin (The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. 163), “lay about forty miles to the south of Iconium, and was still upon the highroad to Syria. It was situate in a hollow on the north side of a remarkable isolated mountain rising out of the great plain, and now called Kara Dagh, or Black Mountain. Lofty peaks looked down upon the town on all sides, except on the north, where the valley opened into the plain of Iconium. The ruins of it remain, and are called Bin-Bir-Kilisseh or the Thousand and One Churches, from the traces still visible of the numerous sacred edifices with which it was once adorned.” “Lystra,” says Hausrath (Der Apostel Paulus, p. 219), “must have lain hard upon the confines of Isaurica, since Ptolemaus reckoned it to Isaurica, and, indeed, according to him it was eight hours’ distant from Iconium.” Professor Ramsay (The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 47, 50) locates Lystra “about six hours south-south-west of Iconium,” and identifies it with the village of Khatyn Serai or ‘The Lady’s Mansion,’ situated “about 3777 feet above the sea and 427 feet above Iconium.” “As a Lycaonian town Lystra had been quite undistinguished; as a Roman garrison it was a bulwark of the province of Galatia, and a sister city to the great Roman centre at Antioch.” Derbe, according to Lewin, was “about twenty miles distant from Lystra, at the south-eastern corner of the great Lycaonian plain, and where commence the highlands which run up to Mount Taurus.” “Near by, but deeper in the, mountain, on the boundaries of Cappadocia, find we Derbe,” writes Hausrath. “Derbe was the frontier city of the Roman province on the south-east,” reports Professor Ramsay, who inclines to locate it at Gudelissin, three miles north-north-west from Zosta, adding, “Gudelissin is the only site in this district where a city of the style of Derbe, the stronghold of ‘the robber Antipater,’ could be situated.”
Learn.—
1. The unwearied diligence that ought to be manifested by a faithful minister of Jesus Christ.
2. The unsleeping hostility with which the gospel and its ministers, when these are faithful, are pursued by the unbelieving world.
3. The watchful providence that continually guards Christ’s servants and Christ’s cause.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Acts 14:3. The Gospel the Word of Gods Grace.
I. Its origin, grace.
II. Its message, grace.
III. Its fruit. grace.
IV. Its conditions, grace.
Fellow-Workers in the Gospel. Christ and His Apostles.
I. The work of the apostles (or ministers).—
1. Preaching boldly in Christ’s name.
2. Doing signs and wonders (in the case of the apostles miracles, both physical and moral; in that of ministers only moral) in Christ’s name.
II. The work of Christ.—
1. Giving testimony to the word of His grace. By His Spirit.
2. Granting power to perform signs and wonders. Also by His Spirit.
3. Watching over His servants while at their work.
4. Opening up escapes for them when in danger.
Acts 14:4. The Dividing Power of the Gospel.
I. In the world.—Separating believers from unbelievers.
II. In the Church.—Separating true disciples from hypocrites.
III. In the individual.—Separating the soul from guilt and sin.
Acts 14:1-7. The Preacher and his Gospel.
I. What the preacher has to do with his gospel.—
1. Preach it to those who have not yet heard it.
2. In the face of the fiercest opposition.
3. So long as the Lord continues bearing witness to his work.
II. What the gospel will do for the preacher.—
1. It will gain him converts.
2. Rouse against him opposition.
3. Perhaps endanger his life.
4. Secure for him the co-operation and commendation of the Lord.