Paul’s Message in Iconium
14: 1-7
45-46 AD
Paul’s message in Iconium DIG: Why did Paul and Barnabas stay in Iconium for a considerable amount of time? How does Paul and Barnabas’ experience in Iconium differ from Pisidian Antioch? How is it similar? What is the purpose of signs and wonders here (also see 6:8)? Why are the people divided? What did Jesus say about people being divided over the gospel? How did the violence against Paul and Barnabas increase from when they were in Pisidian Antioch?
REFLECT: Can you speak with boldness for your Lord? Once we accept Messiah as our Lord and Savior, we are eternally secure (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), but what about our physical well-being? Does the Bible teach that we cannot be harmed or killed for proclaiming the gospel or being a believer? Seeing Paul and Barnabas’ courage, faith, and endurance, how are you challenged to serve the Lord more completely? How should we determine when to trust God to protect us supernaturally and when to run for our lives?
Between Paul’s tenacity and Barnabas’ encouragement, neither lacked motivation, even after leaving Pisidian Antioch in a cloud of dust. By the time they could see Iconium in the distance, they were spilling over with the kind of joyful anticipation that can only come from the filling of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. A new challenge awaited them. Perhaps more of a challenge than they expected.305
Iconium was some ninety miles southwest of Pisidian Antioch on the Via Sebaste, the main route that connected the Roman colonies established by Augustus – Comama, Cremna, Parlais, Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. It was in the central part of what is today Konya in Turkey, a rugged location on a plateau some 3,370 feet above sea level. To reach the town, Paul and Barnabas would have had to cross the mountain range running between Pisidian Antioch and Philomelium, and then descend into the Lycaonian plains. Iconium was partially Hellenized by the Seleucids, until it came under Roman influence in 65 BC when emperor Claudius granted the town the use of his name as an honorary prefix, hence it became known as Claudiconium. It was an important crossroad, lying on routes running westward to Pisidian Antioch and Ephesus and south to Lystra and Derbe, and was a thriving center when Paul and Barnabas arrived.306
Now the same thing happened in Iconium as in Pisidian Antioch – they both entered as usual into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large number of Jewish and God-fearing Greek people believed. But if some were united in faith, others were united in opposition, and trouble soon arose because the Judaizers, Jewish people who would not believe (see the commentary on Galatians,to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers) stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers by an unscrupulous slander campaign (14:1-2).
So precisely because of the rise of opposition that the missionaries felt, they stayed there a considerable time, speaking boldly in the Lord to help consolidate the infant believers there. Far from being intimidated, they were inspired to be even more bold. Boldness is essential for spreading the Good News. It is what enables believers to persist in the face of opposition. Boldness certainly defined Paul. To the Thessalonians he wrote: After we had first suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to tell you the Good News of God – even in the midst of much opposition (First Thessalonians 2:2; also see Acts 9:27-28, 13:46 and 19:8). That he would continue to speak with boldness was his constant concern (Ephesians 6:19-20; Philippians 1:19-20).
Boldness also marked the early preaching of Peter and John. Sternly warned by the Great Sanhedrin to stop preaching in the name of Yeshua, they replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (4:19-20). When Peter and John reported the Sanhedrin’s threats to the rest of the Messianic community, their response was to pray for even greater boldness, “And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant Your servants to speak Your word with courage” (4:29).307
As the two missionaries continued to testify to the message of Yeshua’s grace, they were authenticated as true spokesmen of God by the granting signs and wonders to come about by their hands (Acts 14:3, also see 15:12; Galatians 3:5 and Hebrews 2:4). Once again we see that the ability to perform signs and wonders in Acts was limited to the apostles. And it could very well be that the reference Paul makes in Galatians 3:5 pointed to these events: So then, the One who gives you the Ruach and works miracles among you – does He do it because of your deeds based on Torah or your hearing based on truth and faithfulness.
But like Pisidian Antioch, Iconium became a polarized, smoldering cauldron. Eventually, the city erupted in response to the confrontational preaching of the two men and the population split in two. Some were with the unbelieving Jewish leaders and some were with the apostles. This means that there were more than twelve apostles (seeRomans 16:7), even though the role of the Twelve is unique(Matthew 19:28; Revelation 21:14); indeed Ephesians 4:11 suggests that the office of apostle continues to be a gift to the Messianic Community.
This is always the case. Christ won’t let you sit on the fence. The gospel always divides people into one of two families. You are either in the family of God, or the family of Satan. Yeshua Himself declared: Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. Yeshua is not to rule in glory at His First Coming; He is not at that time to fulfill the Messianic prophecies of world peace: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). For this reason, He will bring division. Families, both Jewish and Gentile, have been divided and loyalties broken because of our Savior. Jewish believers are still ostracized from their families and friends if they believe Yeshua is Messiah. But to be His disciple we must count the costs.
Some will acknowledge Him as Meshiach, while others will not, so families will be split down the middle over this issue (Matthew 10:34-39). From now on means that the division did not start after Jesus’ death and resurrection but had already begun beforehand, there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. Then Yeshua quotes from Micah 7:6, and gives specific examples of the coming division: They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law (Luke 12:51-53).
Interestingly enough, just as the Pharisees and the Herodians overcame their mutual dislike for each other to oppose Yeshua, some Jews and Gentiles temporarily overcame their aversion to one another for a common cause.308 The smoldering division eventually burst into flame and an attempt (Greek: horme, meaning a rush or an assault) was made by both Gentiles and Jewish people, along with their rulers, on the lives of the two missionaries. The verb form of horme appears in 19:29, where it describes the assault on Paul’s companions by the mob at Ephesus. No doubt a similar scene of mob violence took place at Iconium, as the unruly crowd sought to abuse and stone them.309 The pattern of resistance increased from merely driving them out of their district to both Jews and Gentiles threatening to stone them.
But they found out about it crossed the border into the Roman province of Galatia, and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra (some 18 miles or 29 km distant) and Derbe (some 55 miles or 89 km further) and the surrounding countryside (14:4-6). Although Luke does not specify the source of information regarding the intended plot, it may be surmised that some (or many) of the new believers possessed well-paced connections with colleagues, friends, or partners and been able to alert the two men to the pending danger.310 Paul and Barnabas were bold, but not foolish. Their flight was an act of prudence, not cowardice. Yeshua had told the Twelve: When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another (Matthew 10:23). There was obviously nothing more they could accomplish by remaining in Iconium, so it was time to move on to new territory where the gospel was needed. As it had done earlier in Acts 8:1-4, persecution merely pushed the Good News of forgiveness and salvation into new regions (14:7).
Spirit of God, Your Word says: The naïve believes every word, but the shrewd discerns their steps (Proverbs 14:15). May I not be afraid to use the wits and wisdom You have given me to be part of Your blessing in my life. I trust You unconditionally in whatever way You choose to keep Your promises, knowing that You are my refuge, and underneath me are Your everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27).
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