Acts 14:22

He came back to strengthen all these new Christians, compare with Acts 15:36; Acts 16:4. Grounding new converts in the faith (Colossians 1:23) is just as important as converting people in the first place (Matthew 28:20). "To continue in the faith" Indicating that. person can fall away. "The truth is that these were young converts; they were surrounded by both unbelieving Jews and outright idolaters. They lived in the midst of many temptations and dangers. Family ties had been broken. Social ties had been broken. They needed encouragement" (Reese p. 517). "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" Compare with 2 Timothy 3:12. Notice the word must. Living. faithful life will involve being persecuted, it will involve "many" tribulations. Therefore, the Christian needs to be prepared for suffering and opposition (John 16:33). We need to have. long-range perspective, and we need to be hardy! The kingdom of God here is the eternal, heavenly kingdom. They had already seen what being. Christian was costing Paul, and they are now told that they will not be exempt from suffering in their Christian life, even though they are not apostles. We must spiritually prepare to face opposition.