Acts 14:19 - Meaning and Application

We are given another account of the work, sufferings, and continued ministry of Paul and Barnabas. Here Paul is stoned and left for dead, yet God restores him, and he goes on with the mission.

The crowd turned against Paul rather than Barnabas because Paul was the main speaker, so his words offended them more. But they were not stirred up by any real harm Paul had done. If they thought it was an insult that he would not let them wrongly give divine honor to him, they would have had no reason to stay angry. Instead, Jews from Antioch came in and, likely after hearing how much respect Paul and Barnabas had received in Lystra, roused the people against them. They accused them of being troublemakers, rebels, and dangerous men who should not be allowed to stay. This shows how fierce the Jews’ anger was against the gospel of Christ. They could not bear to see it gain a foothold anywhere.

The people were pushed to such fury by these hostile Jews that the mob rose up and stoned Paul. This was not a legal punishment, but a riot-driven attack. They threw stones at him until he fell, then dragged him out of the city, as if he were not fit to live there. They likely did this thinking he was already dead. The human heart, when it is corrupt and worldly, can move quickly toward evil, even in opposite directions. People can be held back from one kind of wrong only to be pushed easily into another. Those who had recently wanted to treat the apostles as more than men now treated them as worse than beasts, even as the worst criminals. One day, “Hosanna,” and the next, “Crucify.” Popular opinion changes like the wind. If Paul had been like Mercury, the pagan messenger god, they might have honored him and even set up a shrine for him. But because he was a faithful servant of Christ, they stoned him and cast him out of the city. Those who willingly accept false teaching often hate the truth when it comes in love.

Yet God delivered Paul by his power. When he was dragged out of the city, the disciples stood around him. It seems there were some in Lystra who had become believers and who had found a middle way between worshiping the apostles and rejecting them. Even these new converts showed courage by standing with Paul, though they had reason to fear the same crowd. They stood around him, partly to protect him from more violence and partly to see whether he was alive or dead. Then, all at once, he rose up. He was not dead, but he had likely been badly crushed and bruised, and perhaps had fainted from the blow. It was no small miracle that he recovered so quickly and was able to go back into the city. God’s faithful servants may come very near death, and friends and enemies may think they are finished, but they will not die until God’s work for them is done. They may be struck down, but they are not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:9).

They did not stop their work because of the persecution. All the stones they threw at Paul could not drive him away from his calling. Though they dragged him out of the city, he came back into it again, showing that he did not fear them. None of these things moved him. Still, since persecution there was a clear sign that they should look for useful work elsewhere, they left Lystra for the time being.

They went to Derbe and began again where the ground was still fresh. The next day Paul and Barnabas departed there, a city not far away, and preached the gospel. They taught many people there. It seems Timothy may have been from that city and may have been one of the disciples who now traveled with Paul, having met him at Antioch and joined him on this journey. Later Paul referred to the suffering he knew Timothy had seen in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (2 Timothy 3:10-11). Nothing more is recorded about what happened at Derbe.

After that, they went back over the same ground, watering what they had planted. After they stayed in Derbe as long as they thought best, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, the very cities where they had preached before. We have already seen how they laid the foundation and began the good work. Here we see how they built on that foundation and carried it forward.

They strengthened the souls of the disciples by teaching them what would steady them in the faith. New believers are often shaky and easily disturbed. Old friends urge them not to leave their former ways. People they think wiser than themselves warn them about the shame, danger, or foolishness of changing. Some are tempted by the hope of advancement if they stay with their fathers’ traditions, while others are frightened by the cost of going against the crowd. The apostles came to tell them that this was the true grace of God in which they stood, and that they must hold firmly to it. There is no danger greater than losing their share in Christ, and no gain greater than keeping hold of him. Whatever trials they faced, Christ would give them strength to endure. Whatever they lost, they would be richly repaid. In this way the souls of the disciples were confirmed. Their holy resolve was strengthened so they would cling to Christ whatever it cost them.

Those who are converted need to be strengthened. Those who are planted need to be rooted. A minister’s work is not only to awaken sinners, but also to establish saints. It is sometimes harder to keep what we have gained than to gain it in the first place. Those who have been taught the truth must learn how sure it is, and those who have made a good start must be made firm in it. True strengthening is a strengthening of the soul. It is not mainly about holding people in place by harsh penalties if they fall away. It is about binding the heart to Christ and his truth. Only the grace of God can truly confirm the souls of believers and keep them from turning back.

They also urged them to continue in the faith, or, as the wording can also mean, they encouraged them.

They also told them that it was both their duty and their advantage to keep going. They were to remain in the belief that Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Believers need to continue in the faith, even when the world tries to draw them away with praise or pressure. Because temptations to fall away are constant, Christians need constant reminders to persevere.

What they stressed most was that we must enter the kingdom of God through many troubles. This is not only true of the apostles, but of all believers. Everyone who wants to go to heaven should expect hardship and persecution on the way. At first, that may sound discouraging, but when it is understood rightly, it strengthens believers and helps them stay faithful to Christ.

It is true that they will face trouble, and much trouble. But this suffering is appointed by God. He has already determined that all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. He has also commanded that all Christ’s disciples take up their cross. When we gave ourselves to Jesus Christ, this was part of what we accepted. If trouble comes because of the word, it is only what we were warned about before. God carries out what he has planned for us.

This is also the lot of the leaders in Christ’s army, not just the soldiers. It is not only you, but we as well, who are under this burden if it is considered hardship. So your own suffering should not trip you up, and neither should ours (1 Thessalonians 3:3). Let no one be shaken by our troubles, for you yourselves know that we were appointed to them. Christ did not send his apostles into harder service than he had already endured himself, and they did not place heavier demands on ordinary Christians than on themselves.

We should expect much tribulation, but here is the comfort: we will get through it. We will not be destroyed by it. It is like the Red Sea, but the Lord opens a way through it for his redeemed people. We must go down into trouble, but we will come up again. More than that, we will pass through trouble and enter the kingdom of God. The glory and joy at the end will more than make up for every hardship on the way. We must go by the cross, but if we keep on that path and do not turn aside or turn back, we will reach the crown. The hope of that makes present suffering lighter and easier to bear.

They also appointed elders, or presbyters, in every church. On this second visit, they put the believers into better order. They formed them into organized churches under settled ministers, and they established the distinction between those who are taught and those who teach. Every church had rulers or leaders whose work was to pray with the members, preach in their gatherings, administer gospel ordinances, and watch over their spiritual life. They were to teach the ignorant, warn the unruly, comfort the discouraged, and answer those who opposed the truth. Every local church needs one or more such leaders.

These men were called elders because they had the wisdom and seriousness expected of older men, and they had the authority that belongs to older men in office. Their role was not to make new laws, since that belongs to Christ alone, the great Lawgiver. The church is ruled by Christ as its only king. Their task was to see that Christ’s laws were obeyed and carried out, and in that work they were to be respected and submitted to.

These elders were ordained. The apostles judged the qualifications of those who were proposed, whether by themselves or by the people, because the apostles were best fitted to decide. Then these men were solemnly set apart to the work of the ministry and bound to it. They were appointed for the disciples, to serve them and do them good. Those who are in the faith still need to be built up in it, and they need the help of elders, pastors, and teachers, who are meant to strengthen the body of Christ.

By prayer, joined with fasting, they commended them to the Lord Jesus, in whom they had believed. Even when people truly believe, ministers are not finished with their care for them. They still need watching, teaching, and warning, because their faith still needs to be completed and matured. The ministers who care most for believers must still commend them to the Lord and place them under the protection and guidance of his grace. In prayer, they can say, “Lord, keep them by your own name.”

This commending must be done by prayer. Christ himself prayed in this way for his disciples in John 17: “They were yours, and you gave them to me. Father, keep them.” It is also a comfort to commend believers to the Lord because he is the one they have trusted. We give to him those who have given themselves to him, and who know that he is able to guard what they have entrusted to him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12). It is good to join fasting with prayer as a sign of humility over sin and to give our prayers greater seriousness. When we part from friends, the best farewell is to commend them to the Lord and leave them with him.

They then continued preaching the gospel in other places they had already visited. It seems they had not made as many converts there before, so now they returned to carry on the work of conversion. From Antioch they passed through Pisidia, the province where that Antioch was located. Then they went into Pamphylia, whose chief city was Perga, where they had been before (Acts 13:13). They came there again to preach the word (Acts 14:25), making another attempt to see whether the people were now more willing to receive the gospel.

We are not told what success they had there, but from there they went down to Attalia, a city in Pamphylia on the seacoast. They did not stay long in one place. Wherever they came, they tried to lay a good foundation for later work and to sow seed that would one day bring a rich harvest. Christ’s parables help explain this. He compared the kingdom of heaven to a little yeast that eventually leavens the whole batch, to a mustard seed that starts very small but grows into a large tree, and to seed a man plants in his field that sprouts, and he does not know how.

Then they returned by sea to Antioch in Syria, from which they had been sent out on this mission (Acts 14:26). They came there for a reason. That was the church that had recommended them to the grace of God, and they valued that prayerful sending very highly. Even though they had great honor with God already, they still wanted to show due respect to those who had sent them. Since the believers had committed them to God’s grace for the work they completed, they now felt they owed the church a full report, so the church could help them with its praise just as it had helped them with its prayers.

They gathered the church together (Acts 14:27). There were likely more believers in Antioch than could fit in one place, so they probably called together the leaders, and perhaps other believers came in groups at different times. When they met, Paul and Barnabas gave an account of two things. First, they spoke of the signs of God’s presence in their work. They told all that God had done with them. They did not boast about what they had done, which would have been pride. They spoke about what God had done with them and through them. All the good we do should be credited to God, because he works in us to will and to do, and then works with us to make the work succeed. God’s grace can do anything without ministers’ preaching, but ministers’ preaching, even Paul’s, can do nothing without God’s grace. So the power of that grace must be recognized in the fruit of the word.

Second, they spoke of the fruit of their work among the Gentiles. They told how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. He had not only invited them to the gospel feast, but had also moved many of them to accept the invitation. No one enters Christ’s kingdom except through faith. We must truly believe in Christ, or we have no share in him. It is God who opens the door of faith. He opens the truths we must believe, opens our hearts to receive them, and makes this a wide and effective door into Christ’s church. We should thank God that he has opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. He has sent them the gospel, which is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith (Romans 16:26), and he has also given them hearts ready to receive it. In this way the gospel spread and grew brighter, and no power in hell or on earth could shut the door God had opened.

For a time they stayed with the disciples there (Acts 14:28), longer than they may have first planned. It was not because they feared their enemies, but because they loved their friends and did not want to leave them.