Acts 14:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

As the lame man whom Peter and John healed at the doors of the temple (Acts 3:1-11) prefigured the salvation of the Jews, so this Lycaonian sufferer prefigures the Gentile people. They stood far from the temple and from piety, yet were raised up by the preaching of the Apostle Paul. As he said, "James and Cephas and John gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised" (Gal 2:9). Yet these cases require explanation. The former man is healed in the first days of the faith, when the Word had not yet been preached to the Gentiles. This man is healed when the Jews had been expelled for their faithlessness and covered with the dust of condemnation amid the new joy of the converted Gentiles (see Acts 13:50-51).

The apostles went to another city of the same province and at first labored for quite a long time in Lystra. Here, as is evident, there was no synagogue, and Jews did not live there in general. Therefore no better place remained for preaching the Gospel than the public assemblies in the squares and outside the city. While Paul and Barnabas were carrying on their work in this way near the city, a man lame from birth, perhaps a beggar, listened to their preaching. Paul's words made such a strong impression on him that he waited with hope not only for spiritual restoration, but also for bodily healing. Paul noticed this and, to strengthen his hope in Christ, and through him the hope of others, said to him, "Stand on your feet and walk upright." The lame man was healed.

After leaving Antioch, Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium. There the word of the apostles, confirmed by signs and wonders, converted a great multitude of Jews and Greeks to Christ. Yet the unbelieving Jews began to act so strongly against the preachers of the Gospel and the newly converted Christians that 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 opposed to the apostles wanted to stone them. When the apostles learned of this, they had to flee to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe.

Here it is related how the inhabitants of Lystra, having seen the miracle of the lame man's healing, took Barnabas and Paul for gods and wished to offer sacrifices to them. When the apostles heard this, they rushed into the crowd, saying, "What are you doing? We also are men like you." Yet by persuading the inhabitants of Lystra not to offer sacrifices to them and not to regard them as gods, the apostles do not forbid us to honor their memory, glorify their struggles, and ask their prayers for us before the Lord.

Both in Lystra itself and in the neighboring villages, the apostles apparently preached with success and remained for some time.

In these two small cities they preached the Gospel, proclaiming the teaching of Christ. They did the same in the surrounding areas, that is, in the neighboring settlements, which were even less significant than these little cities. "See: everywhere persecutions produce great benefits. The persecutors remain defeated, while the persecuted appear glorious" (Chrysostom). This general note on the apostles' preaching in these Lycaonian cities is later supplemented by more detailed accounts of certain circumstances of this evangelization.

The apostles' flight from Iconium shows that, after remaining there for a considerable time, they delayed their departure too long. They were already close to being killed, and by a shameful death, since stoning was regarded as such. At the same time, this also reveals how violently the Jews stirred up the people against the apostles, who were guilty of nothing. Evidently accusations were brought against them that demanded their death, and that quickly and cruelly. Before the Jews they were probably accused, like Jesus Christ Himself and the protomartyr Stephen, of blasphemy. Before the Greeks they were accused of overthrowing religion and stirring up public disorder.