Paul’s Return to Syrian Antioch
14: 20b-28
48 AD
Paul wrote Galatians (about salvation), part of the Big four (to see link click Ad – Letters of Paul), from Syrian Antioch in 48 AD.
Paul’s return to Syrian Antioch DIG: After the treatment Paul and Barnabas received in Lystra, how would you feel if you were one of these new believers when you had heard that they had come back? From what they have seen in Paul and Barnabas, what would these new believers realize about their ministry? Reviewing Paul’s first missionary journey of about 1,100 miles, what do you learn about Paul? About the gospel? How does this passage refute the teachings of the prosperity gospel?
REFLECT: What was one of the biggest misunderstandings about the gospel that you had to overcome before you could believe it? How did you overcome that misconception? What will it take for you to back down from doing God’s will? What kind of temptation or obstacle or opposition will do it? Describe someone who has been a living example to you of surviving hardships with victory and joy. What have you learned from him or from her? Can we have the heart of Paul and Barnabas and allow nothing to stop us? Nothing stopped Yeshua from doing God’s will on our behalf. As we look to Him, can we be stopped?
On the next day after he was stoned (to see link click Bq – Paul’s Message in Lystra), Paul left with Barnabas on a sixty-mile trip for Derbe, the eastern-most frontier of Galatia (14:20b). After proclaiming the Good News to that city and making many disciples, a church was established there. That ended the first missionary journey with success and they returned to Syrian Antioch. God had opened the door for them for their great ministry; salvation had gone out to the Gentiles; they made it very clear that salvation was by faith and not by works.
Had the two chosen to do so, they could have continued southwest from Derbe on through the Cilician gates the 150 miles or so to Paul’s hometown of Tarsus and from there back to Syrian Antioch. It would have been the easiest route home by far. They chose, however, to retrace their steps and revisit all the congregations that had been established in the course of the mission.324 They returned to Lystra where Paul was stoned and to Iconium where his life was threatened, and to Pisidian Antioch where he was expelled. They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in faith. Paul and Barnabas to do far more than get conversions; they wanted to make disciples. And saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God” (14:21-22). For most people, this is a forgotten message. They consider any kind of persecution completely counter-productive to their faith in Messiah (like the health and wealth teaching that far too many chase after today), failing to note the significant place suffering has in God’s plan.325
Their message of encouragement by warning of hardship may seem to be a paradox to us. We may not find a message about unavoidable troubles very strengthening! But we must first realize that the inevitable nature of hardships can motivate us to redirect our energies. Fear of trials sometimes drains more energy than facing them! Once we accept the inevitability of hardship, we can redirect our focus from fear of trials to faithfulness. In the face of tribulations, we often sense a heavenly strength filling our souls right on time.
Secondly, realizing the inevitability of hardship encourages us in the faith. It would be pretty discouraging if we thought hardships in our lives were always signs of disobedience or sin. We are usually aware when the consequences of sin have caused us great suffering, but many other times trials have nothing at all to do with disobedience. Believing a heretical prosperity gospel can leave us terribly discouraged, wondering what we’ve done wrong. If we were to believe that false teaching, we would constantly wonder why we can’t seem to muster up enough faith to be healthy, problem free and prosperous. However, be encouraged to know that difficulty is not a sign of immaturity or faithlessness. The Ruach ha-Kodesh will do His job and let you know if you are suffering because of sin. Otherwise, remember – it is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God.”326
Paul and Barnabas knew that these baby churches must have proper leadership, so they handpicked elders for them in every community. This is the first reference to elders outside the Messianic community in Jerusalem. The congregation does not elect elders, rather they are appointed. So believers are to be in submission to a plurality of elders. In Acts 20:28 we are told that the Ruach ha-Kodesh raises up the leaders, and the function of the local Messianic community or church is to who are the leaders that God has already chosen. They prayed with fasting and placed them in the care of the Lord – in whom they had put their trust (14:23).
After their return visit to the Galatian cities in which they had planted churches, they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphyllia on their way home. After speaking the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia, a port for Perga, the capital of Pamphylia. Luke carefully ties together the end of the First Missionary Journey with the beginning. From there they sailed back to Syrian Antioch (where they had been entrusted to the gracious care of God in 13:1-3 for the initial work was completed). All total, they were gone somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four months.
It was the mother church at Syrian Antioch that had commissioned Paul and Barnabas, committing them to the Lord by prayer and fasting and identifying with their mission by the laying on of hands (13:2b-3). When they arrived and gathered together Messiah’s community (the first missionary conference ), they began to report all that God had done in helping them and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles (14:25-27). They did not go in that door by the Levitical sacrificial system, they did not go in by circumcision, they did not go in by Greek philosophy, and they certainly did not go in by pagan mythology. They came in by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Luke was probably present on that occasion too and heard the missionaries’ exciting report. The inference would seem to be that their stay would be merely temporary; before long God would be calling them to a wider missionary work. Evidently the report of this mission did not immediately reach Yerushalayim, and Paul and Barnabas stayed quite a while with the disciples (14:28). During this extended period of time, Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, or those churches just established in Galatia. Word of Gentile salvation would eventually spread to Tziyon and provoke the major debate that would be the subject of Chapter 15.327
As you review Paul’s First Missionary Journey, you can see the principles by which he operated, principles that are still applicable today.
First, he worked primarily in the key cities and challenged the believers to take the message out to the more remote areas. The gospel works in the populated centers, and we must carry it there.
Second, Paul used on approach with the synagogue congregations and another with the Gentiles. He referred the Jews and Jewish proselytes to the TaNaKh, but when preaching to the Gentiles, he emphasized the God of Creation and His goodness to the nations. His starting point was different, but his finishing point was the same: faith in Yeshua Messiah.
Third, he majored in establishing and organizing local churches. Jesus had the same local church in mind when He gave the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19-20). After we make disciples we must immerse them and then teach them the Word of God. Merely winning people to Christ is only fulfilling one-third of the commission! It takes a local community of believers to help fulfill all of what Messiah commanded us to do.
Fourth, the apostle to the Gentiles grounded believers in the Word of God. This is the only source of strength and stability when persecution comes, as it inevitably will. Paul did not preach a popular “success gospel” that painted a picture of an easy life for the believer.328
Lord Jesus, I am encouraged to know that when I endure, it brings me favor with You. For we are called to this, because You suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we should follow in Your steps. You did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in Your mouth; when abused, You did not return abuse; when suffering, You did not threaten, but committed Yourself to the One who judges justly (First Peter 2:20-23). Grant me, Lord, to pay any price in exchange for the gift of Your hard-won salvation.329
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