Acts 14:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.

NIV: In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.

NASB: In Lystra a man was sitting whose feet were incapacitated. He had been disabled from his mother’s womb, and had never walked.

CSB: In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

NLT: While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting

KJV: And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:

NKJV: And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

Paul and Barnabas are in the middle of their missionary journey (Acts 13:1–3). They traveled from Syrian Antioch to the island of Cyprus, sailed north to the southern shore of modern-day Asia Minor, continued north to Pisidian Antioch, then turned east to Iconium and south to Lystra.

Lystra is in the Lycaonian region of the province of Galatia. It became a Roman colony in 25 BC, a military outpost against pirates and marauders from the Tarsus mountains to the south. It is a small town, apparently with not even enough Jews to host a synagogue. On Paul's second missionary journey, he will meet Timothy, either in Derbe or Lystra (Acts 16:1–2).

The encounter with the crippled man parallels that of John and Peter in Jerusalem (Acts 3:1–10). In the prior case, Peter told the witnesses that the power he used to heal the man was from Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah (Acts 3:11–26). Soon after, Peter and John are questioned by the Sanhedrin and told not to speak of Jesus again (Acts 4).

In this latter case, it's possible Paul has been preaching in tongues but doesn't know the Lycaonian language (1 Corinthians 14:18). He and Barnabas don't understand what the crowd intends until they try to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, thinking they are the incarnations of Hermes and Zeus (Acts 14:11–18). The crowd completely reverses their view, however, when unbelieving Jews and Gentiles from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium arrive and convince the people to stone Paul and leave him for dead (Acts 14:19).

Spreading the good news of Jesus is not for the faint of heart.

Acts 14:8–20 finds Paul and Barnabas in Lystra in the province of Galatia in modern-day Asia Minor. This city's reaction is the extreme opposite of what happened in Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, where they were threatened with stoning (Acts 13:50; 14:5). In Lystra, they are initially worshiped as gods. The two Christian missionaries are horrified by this reaction and do their best to stop it. Before long, however, antagonistic Jews from their previous stops arrive and convince the locals to stone Paul. God's warning that Paul would suffer greatly for Him begins to come true (Acts 9:16), but Paul considers being left for dead a small price to pay for his salvation through Jesus (Romans 8:18).

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.