CHAPTER XIV. _Paul and Barnabas, having preached at Iconium with great_ _success, are persecuted, and obliged to flee to Lystra and_ _Derbe_, 1-6. _Here they preach, and heal a cripple; on which, the people,_ _supposing them to be gods, are about to offer them sacrifices,_ _and are with diffic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:2. _STIRRED UP THE GENTILES_] των εθνων, Such as were mere _heathens_, and thus distinguished from the _Jews_, and the _Greeks_ who were proselytes. _EVIL AFFECTED_] εκακωσαν, _Irritated_ or _exasperated their_ _minds against the brethren_, the disciples of Christ; one of their appell... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:3. _LONG TIME THEREFORE ABODE THEY_] Because they had great success, therefore they continued a long time, gaining many converts, and building up those who had believed, in their most holy faith; notwithstanding the opposition they met with, both from the unbelieving Jews and heathens.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:4. _THE MULTITUDE OF THE CITY WAS DIVIDED_] The Jews treated the apostles as false teachers, and their miracles as impositions; and many of the people held with _them_: while the others, who had not hardened their hearts against the truth, felt the force of it; and, being without preju... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:5. _AN ASSAULT MADE_] ορμη, A _desperate attempt_ was made by _their rulers_, i.e. by the heathen rulers of the people, and the rulers of the synagogue. _TO USE_ THEM _DESPITEFULLY_] To expose them, bring them into contempt, and make them appear as monsters, or movers of sedition; and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:6. _THEY WERE WARE OF_ IT] They were informed of the scheme, and of the attempt that was about to be made, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe; they did not leave the _province_ of Lycaonia, but went to other towns and cities. Lystra lay to the south and Derbe to the north of Iconium, acco... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:7. _AND THERE THEY PREACHED THE GOSPEL._] Wherever they went, they were always employed in their Master's work. Some MSS. of considerable note add here, _and all the people were moved at_ _their preaching, but Paul and Barnabas tarried at Lystra_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:8. _IMPOTENT IN HIS FEET_] αδυνατος τοις ποσιν, He had no muscular power, and probably his ancle bones were dislocated; or he had what is commonly termed _club feet_; this is the more likely, as he is said to have been _lame from his mother's womb_, and to have _never walked_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:9. _THAT HE HAD FAITH TO BE HEALED_] How did this faith come to this poor heathen? Why, by _hearing the word of God preached_: for it is said, _the same heard Paul speak_. And it appears that he credited the doctrine he heard, and believed that Jesus _could_, if he _would_, make him wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:10. _SAID WITH A LOUD VOICE_] After this clause the following is found in CD, and several others, either in the text or margin: σοι λεγω εν τῳ ονοματι του Κυριου Ιησου Χριστου, _I say_ _unto thee, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ_, "stand upright on thy feet." This reading is also... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:11. _SAYING, IN THE SPEECH OF LYCAONIA_] What this language was has puzzled the learned not a little. _Calmet_ thinks it was a corrupt Greek dialect; as Greek was the general language of Asia Minor. Mr. _Paul Ernest Jablonski_, who has written a dissertation expressly on the subject,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:12. _THEY CALLED BARNABAS, JUPITER; AND PAUL, MERCURIUS_] The heathens supposed that _Jupiter_ and _Mercury_ were the gods who most frequently assumed the human form; and Jupiter was accustomed to take Mercury with him on such expeditions. Jupiter was the _supreme god_ of the heathens;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:13. _THEN THE PRIEST OF JUPITER, WHICH WAS BEFORE THEIR_ _city_] There is a meaning here, which ordinary readers will not readily apprehend. Many cities were put under the protection of a particular deity; and the image of that deity placed at the entrance, to signify that he was the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:15. _WE ALSO ARE MEN OF LIKE PASSIONS WITH YOU_] This saying of the apostles has been most strangely perverted. A pious commentator, taking the word _passion_ in its _vulgar_ and most _improper_ sense, (a _bad temper_, an _evil propensity_,) and supposing that these holy men wished to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:16. _WHO IN TIMES PAST SUFFERED ALL NATIONS_, c.] The words παντα τα εθνη, which we here translate, _all nations_, should be rendered, _all the Gentiles_, merely to _distinguish_ them from the _Jewish people_: who having a revelation, were not left _to walk in_ _their own ways_ but the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:17. _HE LEFT NOT HIMSELF WITHOUT WITNESS_] Though he gave the Gentiles no revelation of his will, yet he continued to govern them by his gracious providence; doing them _good_ in general; _giving then rain_ to fertilize their grounds, and _fruitful_ _seasons_ as the result; so that _gr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:19. _THERE CAME THITHER_ CERTAIN _JEWS FROM ANTIOCH_] Those were, no doubt, the same who had raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, at Iconium and Antioch, before: they followed the apostles with implacable malice; and what they could not do _themselves_ they endeavoured to d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:20. _THE DISCIPLES STOOD ROUND ABOUT HIM_] No doubt in earnest prayer, entreating the _Author of life_ that his soul might again return to its battered tenement. _HE ROSE UP_] Miraculously restored, not only to _life_, but to _perfect soundness_ so that he was able to walk into the ci... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:21. _PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO THAT CITY_] Derbe, a city in the same province. Acts 14:6. _THEY RETURNED AGAIN TO LYSTRA, AND_ TO _ICONIUM_] Behold the _courage_ of these Christian men! They counted not their lives dear to them, and returned to do their Masters work in the _very_ _places... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:22. _CONFIRMING THE SOULS OF THE DISCIPLES_] The word _disciple_ signifies literally a _scholar_. The Church of Christ was a _school_, in which Christ himself was _chief Master_; and his apostles _subordinate teachers_. All the _converts_ were _disciples_ or _scholars_, who came to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:23. _WHEN THEY HAD ORDAINED THEM ELDERS_] _Elder_ seems to be here the name of an _office_. These were all _young_ or _new converts_, and yet among _them_ the apostles constitute _elders_. They appointed persons the most experienced, and the most advanced in the Divine life, to watch... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:24. _PASSED THROUGHOUT PISIDIA, THEY CAME TO PAMPHYLIA._] Acts 13:13, Acts 13:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:25. _THEY WENT DOWN INTO ATTALIA_] This was a sea-port town in Pamphylia. Thus we find the apostles travelled from Derbe to Lystra; from Lystra to Iconium; from Iconium to Antioch of Pisidia; from Antioch to Perga in Pamphylia; and from Perga to Attalia; and it appears that they travel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:26. _AND THENCE SAILED TO ANTIOCH_] This was Antioch in _Syria_; and to reach which, by sea, they were obliged to coast a part of the Mediterranean Sea, steering between _Cyprus_ and _Cilicia_; though they might have gone the whole journey by _land_. _WHENCE THEY HAD BEEN RECOMMENDED-... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:27. _HAD GATHERED THE CHURCH TOGETHER_] The Church by which they had been sent on this very important and successful mission. _THEY REHEARSED ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE WITH THEM_] Not what they had done _themselves_; but what GOD made them the _instruments_ of working. _AND HOW HE HAD OP... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 14:28. _AND THERE THEY ABODE LONG TIME_] How long the apostles tarried here we cannot tell; but we hear no more of them till the council of Jerusalem, mentioned in the following chapter, which is generally supposed to have been held in the year 51 of our Lord; and, if the transactions of... [ Continue Reading ]