Acts 14:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,

NIV: There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.

NASB: And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to treat them abusively and to stone them,

CSB: When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

NLT: Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.

KJV: And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,

NKJV: And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them,

Iconium (Acts 14:1) is in modern-day Asia Minor. There, Paul and Barnabas have been teaching those who have put their faith in Christ and angering those who haven't. Eventually, the Jewish and Gentile unbelievers have had enough. But, unlike the antagonists in Pisidian Antioch who just run the apostles out of town (Acts 13:50), the Iconians try to stone them.

Stoning was a common method of capital punishment and was authorized in the Mosaic law (Leviticus 20:2; 24:14–16). When performed legally, the condemned was given a chance to repent, then marched to a ten-foot ledge. He was thrown off the ledge and the primary accuser dropped a large stone or small boulder on the condemned person's chest. If this did not kill him, the witnesses followed with more stones. If the stoning was not the result of a formal inquiry, however, and performed by mob justice (Acts 7:54–60), the crowd would simply throw rocks until the person was dead.

When the early church first spread the story of Jesus, it was Paul who enthusiastically and violently persecuted the Jesus-followers (Acts 8:1–3; 9:1–2). When Jesus claimed Paul, He told Ananias, "I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (Acts 9:16). This is a foreshadowing of Paul's suffering. In their next stop, Lystra, Paul will be stoned (Acts 14:19). In Philippi, he and Silas will be beaten and imprisoned (Acts 16:16–24). To the church in Corinth, Paul will later describe being flogged, lashed, beaten with rods, and shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). But he will tell the Romans, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).

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.