Acts 14:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

NIV: At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.

NASB: In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a way that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

CSB: In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

NLT: The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.

KJV: And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

NKJV: Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.

Paul and Barnabas are in the middle of Paul's first missionary journey. They started in Syrian Antioch and sailed west to the island of Cyprus, where they exposed a Jewish false prophet and brought a Roman proconsul to faith in Christ (Acts 13:4–12). Then they traveled north to Pisidian Antioch, near the center of modern-day Asia Minor, and established a church there. When the Jewish synagogue leaders and the civil Gentile leaders grew antagonistic, Paul and Barnabas left their new converts and traveled about 90 miles southeast to Iconium (Acts 13:13–52).

Their experience in Iconium is very similar to that of Pisidian Antioch. They start in the Jewish synagogue, since Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah. Acts 13:26–47 gives us the only transcription of any of Paul's many messages in a synagogue so we can assume the others are similar. As did Stephen (Acts 7), Paul shows how Jesus of Nazareth fits the prophecies of the Messiah given in the Jewish Scriptures. Paul understands that the news about Jesus belongs to the Jews first and then the Gentiles (Romans 1:16), but some Gentiles are looking for a truer God than the Romans can offer. So, they attend the Jewish synagogue and follow the Jewish God. Many of these Gentiles, along with the Jews, accept Paul's words.

This is as Jesus planned (Acts 1:8). In Isaiah 49:6, God says of the Messiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." This will cause some growing pains for the mostly-Jewish church (Acts 15:1–2), but it is as God planned all along.

Acts 14:1–7 records how Paul and Barnabas fled persecution in Pisidian Antioch and arrived in Iconium. As becomes their habit, they share Jesus' story in the local synagogue and watch many Jews and Gentiles agree to follow Jesus. Like in Pisidian Antioch, other Jews and Gentiles reject their message. The pair stay as long as they can, teaching and starting the church, until their antagonists threaten to stone them. Paul and Barnabas leave the new believers and travel south and east to establish new churches but will return on their way back through (Acts 14:21).

Acts 14 describes the last half of Paul's first missionary journey. He and Barnabas leave Pisidian Antioch, near central modern-day Asia Minor, and travel southeast to Iconium where they establish a new church. In Lystra, Paul heals a man born crippled. The amazed people insist Barnabas is the Greek deity Zeus, and Paul is Hermes. They attempt to offer sacrifices to them, much to the horror of the two evangelists. When antagonists from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium arrive, Paul is stoned but survives. The pair travel to Derbe, then retrace their steps, encouraging the new churches before sailing back to Syrian Antioch.

Paul's first missionary journey, recorded in Acts 13—14, gives a glimpse of issues that the church will face throughout its entire existence. When presented with Jesus's story, some will accept Him while others will not. Opposition is sometimes violent. Some integrate into church life easily, but for centuries the church has struggled with how to integrate those from vastly different cultures. This raises the crucial question of which aspects of faith and worship are biblical, making them universal, and which are cultural, and therefore optional? In Acts 15, the church leadership will start a discussion on that subject which continues even today.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.