But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and incensed the minds of the Gentiles against the brethren.
οι δε απειθουντες ιουδαιοι επηγειραν και εκακωσαν τας ψυχας των εθνων κατα των αδελφων
8 Church Fathers comment on this verse
They stirred up the Gentiles also, as though it were not enough for them to be stirred up by themselves. Why, then, did the apostles not leave there? Because they were not being driven out, but only oppressed. "They stirred up and embittered," he says, "the minds of the Gentiles against the brethren." That is, they slandered the apostles, accused them of many things, and presented these simple-hearted men as deceitful.
They stirred up the Gentiles also, not content with rising up themselves. But the apostles did not leave the synagogue, since they were not being persecuted, but only disputed with.
They stirred up a revolt against the believers. The Jews united with the Greeks, so that in this also what was said in the Psalms might be fulfilled: "Why do the nations rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?" (Ps 2:1).
Yet the believers everywhere in their instructions call them brothers and say, "Men and brethren." This address occurs in the early speeches of the Apostles Peter and Stephen (Acts 2:29; Acts 3:17; Acts 7:2, 26). The Apostle Paul addressed his fellow Jews with these words (Acts 13:26, 38). Later he will also address them with these words (Acts 23:1; Acts 25:6; Acts 28:17).
For the Psalm also prophesied of the Lord doing the same thing and speaking as if in the person of Jesus Christ: "I will declare Thy name to My brethren" (Ps 21:23).
They withdrew to Lycaonian Iconium, a city about ten miles from Antioch, and there found access among Jews and Gentiles. But the hostility of the Jews, who won the city rulers to their side, drove them from there. This happened after they had already managed to gain a considerable number of attentive disciples through preaching and miracles.
After leaving Antioch, Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium. There, while the apostles’ word, confirmed by signs and wonders, turned a great multitude of Jews and Hellenes to Christ, the unbelieving Jews began to act very strongly against the preachers of the Gospel and the newly converted Christians.
As a result, the whole city was divided. Some were on the side of the Jews, and others on the side of the apostles.
At last the disturbance reached such a point that the party hostile to the apostles wanted to stone them. When they learned of this, they had to flee to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe.
In Iconium the same thing was repeated as in Antioch. The apostles' preaching had great success: "a great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed." But this success stirred and irritated the unbelieving Jews. The agitation was so strong that the city was divided into two parts. Some were on the side of the Jews, and others on the side of the apostles.
The unbelieving Jews and others: here the same thing occurred as in Pisidian Antioch. The Jews began to incite and embitter the Gentiles against the confessors of the new faith. "Embittered" means that they "slandered the apostles, accused them of many things, and presented these simple-hearted men as deceitful" (Chrysostom). "Against the brethren" means not only against Paul and Barnabas, who were Jews by birth and therefore their brethren according to the flesh (Rom 9:3), but also against the newly converted from among themselves.
The preaching of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in Iconium was at first very successful, until the unbelieving Jews rose up against all the Christians.
The Lycaonian region, one of the fifteen regions of Asia Minor, with its cities Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra, was not far from Antioch of Pisidia. Therefore one may think that the apostles’ enemies from Antioch had made known their attitude toward the apostles.
And so here also agitation against the apostles began. But evidently the enemies were late, for the apostles entered the synagogue without hindrance and, with God’s cooperation, soon accomplished their work, turning many Jews and proselytes to Christ.
Then the enemies began to stir up the Gentiles against the newly converted, so that the Lord’s word might be fulfilled: brothers will rise against brothers, and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household (see Mt 10:36).
"The apostles’ steadfastness, with which they continued laboring for the conversion of the erring despite danger, gave time for the malice of their enemies to ripen," says His Grace Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson.
"Why then did the apostles not leave there?" asks Saint John Chrysostom. "Because they were not being driven out, but only oppressed."
As to why the apostles, expelled from Antioch of Pisidia, came precisely to Iconium, Artobolevsky gives several reasons. As the first reason he points out that the synagogue here, together with its proselytes, offered good soil for preaching. Secondly, the route here was shorter than the other road going southeast.
Iconium was located in the center of the so-called elevated plain of Iconium, which was a convenient place for trade and military communications. Therefore many trade routes passed through Iconium, making it a prominent commercial point of Asia Minor.
Because of the influx of a foreign population drawn here by various advantages, the city necessarily lost its native character and became cosmopolitan. Hence, although it belonged to Lycaonia, it could not be called a Lycaonian city in the full sense.
There is no doubt that the city of Iconium grew especially after it had recently received the status of a Roman colony and began to be called Claudia, after the Emperor Claudius.
Jews formed a significant part of the population. The writer of Acts does not report the content of the preaching with which the apostles addressed the assembly of Jews and Gentiles. But he reports its power and persuasiveness, on which he makes the conversion to Christ of a great multitude of Jews and Gentiles depend.
Yet here also the same thing happens as in Antioch of Pisidia. The party of unbelievers was filled with envy, stirred up and planted malice, and created a malicious disposition in the hearts of the remaining Gentiles, that is, those who did not become Christians.
The Jews tried to extend this malice also to the Iconian Christians, whom the writer of Acts calls brothers because they were united by brotherly love.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 14 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS